Researchers studied why obesity raises blood pressure and focused on beige fat. They removed the gene Prdm16 only in fat cells of mice so the animals did not become obese or inflamed. This let them test beige fat alone.
When beige identity was lost, fat around blood vessels looked like white fat and made angiotensinogen, a precursor to a hormone that raises blood pressure. The engineered mice developed higher blood pressure and stiffer vessels. The team found a protein called QSOX1 in the altered fat. Mice without both Prdm16 and Qsox1 did not get the vessel problems. Doctors also saw higher blood pressure in people with PRDM16 mutations.
Difficult words
- obesity — a condition of having too much body fat
- gene — a small part of DNA that controls traits
- beige — a kind of body fat with special cellsbeige fat, beige identity
- precursor — a substance that comes before another
- inflamed — red, swollen and often painful from injury
- stiffer — less flexible and more hard to bend
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Discussion questions
- Why did the researchers remove Prdm16 only in fat cells?
- How might higher blood pressure change a person’s daily life?
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