Understanding the relationship between adipose tissue hypoxia and maladaptive angiogenesis

Obesity is a well-known risk factor in many diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and heart disease, in part due to abnormal blood vessel development with fat tissue. During weight gain, the volume of fat tissues can undergo drastic changes. Normally, when new tissues develop, there is a corresponding increase in blood vessel density via a process known as angiogenesis to help deliver sufficient oxygen and nutrients to the new tissue. It has been suggested that the speed and way fat tissue expand may contribute to abnormal angiogenesis, leading to insufficient oxygen delivery and chronic inflammations. However, the factors that control angiogenesis in fat tissue expansion are not well understood. Using an in vitro microtissue model, this project aims to determine the roles of physical and chemical signals on fat microtissues expansion and their corresponding effect on angiogenesis. Factors including fat tissue size, arrangement, maturity as well as metabolite concentrations (e.g. glucose, lactate) will be tested. The finding here will help clinicians identify new marker that can better define heath risk of excessive fat tissue beyond current measures such as body mass index and body mass percent fat.

Faculty Supervisor:

Brendan Leung

Student:

Partner:

National University of Kharkiv

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Health and Related Sciences & Technology; Biotechnology

University:

Dalhousie University

Program: