Intestinal stem cells in green, cellular division in red. Credit: Helmholtz Munich/ Anika Böttcher
The intestinal tract is necessary for keeping our energy balance and is a master at responding rapidly to modifications in nutrition and nutrient balance. It handles to do this with the aid of digestive tract cells that to name a few things are concentrated on the absorption of food parts or the secretion of hormonal agents. In adult human beings, the digestive tract cells regrow every 5 to 7 days. The capability to continuously restore and establish all kinds of digestive tract cells from digestive tract stem cells is important for the natural versatility of the digestion system. However, a long-lasting diet plan high in sugar and fat interrupts this adjustment and can add to the advancement of weight problems, type 2 diabetes, and intestinal cancer.
The molecular systems behind this maladaptation belong to the research study field of Heiko Lickert and his group at Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University ofMunich The researchers presume that digestive tract stem cells play an unique function in maladaptation. Using a mouse design, the scientists examined the impacts of a high-sugar and high-fat diet plan and compared it with a control group.
From high-calorie diet plan to increased danger of intestinal cancer
“The first thing we noticed was that the small intestine increases greatly in size on the high-calorie diet,” states research study leader Anika Böttcher. “Together with Fabian Theis’ team of computational biologists at Helmholtz Munich, we then profiled 27,000 intestinal cells from control diet and high fat/high sugar diet-fed mice. Using new machine learning techniques, we thus found that intestinal stem cells divide and differentiate significantly faster in the mice on an unhealthy diet.” The scientists assume that this is because of an upregulation of the appropriate signaling paths, which is related to a velocity of tumor development in numerous cancers. “This could be an important link: Diet influences metabolic signaling, which leads to excessive growth of intestinal stem cells and ultimately to an increased risk of gastrointestinal cancer,” states Böttcher.
With the aid of this high-resolution method, the scientists have actually likewise had the ability to study unusual cell enters the intestinal tract, for instance, hormone-secreting cells. Among their findings, they had the ability to reveal that an unhealthy diet plan causes a decrease in serotonin-producing cells in the intestinal tract. This can lead to digestive tract inertia (normal of diabetes mellitus) or increased cravings. Furthermore, the research study revealed that the taking in cells adjust to the high-fat diet plan, and their performance boosts, hence straight promoting weight gain.
Important standard research study for non-invasive treatments
These and other findings from the research study result in a brand-new understanding of illness systems related to a high-calorie diet plan. “What we have found out is of crucial importance for developing alternative non-invasive therapies,” states research study leader Heiko Lickert, in summing up the outcomes. To date, there is no medicinal technique to avoid, stop or reverse weight problems and diabetes. Only bariatric surgical treatment triggers irreversible weight reduction and can even result in remission of diabetes. However, these surgical treatments are intrusive, non-reversible and expensive to the health care system. Novel non-invasive treatments might take place, for instance, at the hormone level through targeted guideline of serotonin levels. The research study group will analyze this and other methods in subsequent research studies.
Reference: “Diet-induced alteration of intestinal stem cell function underlies obesity and prediabetes in mice” by Alexandra Aliluev, Sophie Tritschler, Michael Sterr, Lena Oppenl änder, Julia Hinterdobler, Tobias Greisle, Martin Irmler, Johannes Beckers, Na Sun, Axel Walch, Kerstin Stemmer, Alida Kindt, Jan Krumsiek, Matthias H. Tsch öp, Malte D. Luecken, Fabian J. Theis, Heiko Lickert and Anika Böttcher, 22 September 2021, Nature Metabolism
DOI: 10.1038/ s42255-021-00458 -9
Heiko Lickert and Anika Böttcher conduct research study at the Helmholtz Diabetes Center of HelmholtzMunich They concentrate on the advancement of regenerative treatment methods for many prevalent illness related to impaired gut function. Lickert heads the Institute for Diabetes and Regeneration Research and is a teacher at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Both are researchers at the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD).
The existing research study has actually been released as a cover story in Nature Metabolism.
