Treatment of obesity and diabetes with marine-derived biomaterials

Abstract

Obesity predisposes a person to a variety of pathological disorders and has become a serious public health problem. White adipose tissue (WAT) is a major energy reserve in higher eukaryotes, and storing triacylglycerol in intervals of energy excess and its mobilization during the energy requirement are its primary purposes. However, initiation and endurance of obesity occur pursuant to not only hypertrophy of adipose tissue but also differentiation of preadipocytes into adipocytes. This mechanism of adipogenesis is triggered by adipose tissue hypergenesis (Spiegelman and Flier 1996, 2001). Differentiated adipocytes secrete obesity-related factors called adipokines. Plasma leptin, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and nonesterified fatty acid levels are all elevated in obesity and play a role in causing insulin resistance. Therefore, obesity is closely correlated to the prevalence of diabetes as well as other crucial diseases such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and cancer (Langin 2006; Schwartz and Porte 2005).