A study has found that visceral fat, the main cause of belly fat, can be removed with nanomaterials. Courtesy of Getty Image Bank.
A study has found that visceral fat, the main cause of ‘belly fat’, can be removed with nanomaterials. Attention is focused on whether it will lead to a new non-drug or non-surgical obesity treatment.
Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUMC) developed a positively charged nanomaterial called ‘P-G3’ that can eliminate visual mast cells and published research results in the international journal ‘Nature Nanotechnology’ on the 1st (local time).
According to the research team, the key to obesity treatment is the correct removal of fat from the body. It is easy to locate and selectively remove fat cells which are found piece by piece in ‘depots’ throughout the body.
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Among the fats, visceral fat that surrounds the organs has no proper treatment. Liposuction, which removes subcutaneous fat such as armpit fat, is an invasive method and is not suitable for removing visceral fat.
The research team paid attention to the fact that fat cells that make up visceral fat are negatively charged. It was hypothesized that a positively charged substance, the opposite of a negative charge, could get rid of these fat cells. Positive charge means an electrical charge that has positive electrical properties.
Polyamideamine (PAMA), a type of dendrimer, which is a polymer structure, was used to make positively charged nanomaterials. An amine polyamide has the same chemical structure as a protein, but has properties that can freely impart the desired chemical properties. The research team developed a positively charged P-G3 nanomaterial by making positively charged polyamideamine.
Experiments using mice showed that P-G3 has an effect on visual mast cells. P-G3 injected into obese mice will quickly spread throughout the body of obese mice. Soon, the physical activity to store visceral fat stopped and the weight dropped.
As a result of analyzing the sequence of ribonucleic acid (RNA, a high molecular compound that acts directly in protein synthesis) in obese mice injected with P-G3, it was confirmed that the processes of synthesis and storage of fat cells are separated from each other. . Furthermore, the storage activity of useless fat cells has been shown to be inhibited. Accumulation of unwanted fat cells is the main cause of visceral obesity.
The research team explained that the positive charge of P-G3 neutralizes the negative charge of fat cells. “This treatment for visceral obesity is unique and different from conventional pharmacological or surgical methods,” said Li Chiang, a professor at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the United States who led the study. The hope is that it can be used,” he said. .
