A new research has revealed that white fat cells can be converted into brown cells through a mechanism, that will help in burning body fat and ultimately provide possible approach for treating obesity.
Research done by University of Southern Denmark explained that white adipose stores excess calories as fat whereas brown adipose tissue acts as an effective fat burner, but now they have found the mechanism through which they can reprogramme white tissues to brown.
Team of researchers had a basic challenge to reprogram the energy storing white fat cells into so-called "brite" i.e. brown-in-white fat cells in the body's white adipose tissue and thus make adipose tissue burn off excess energy as heat instead of storing it.
Susanne Mandrup, research head said that the team stimulated browning in human white adipocytes by a drug used to treat type II diabetes and compared white and "brite" fat cells and the experiment showed that "brite" fat cells have distinct gene programs which, when active, make these cells particularly energy-consuming.
Mandrup further added that they even identified the gene regulatory protein KLF11 (Kruppel Like Factor-11), which was found in all fat cells, and was required for the reprogramming.