Function of Collagens in Energy Metabolism and Metabolic Diseases

Abstract

Living organisms use energy to maintain their life through metabolism, and there is a balance between energy and substrates in living organisms. Adipose, liver, muscle cells and pancreatic cells are the major tissues which involved in this process. Collagens are produced in most of these cells in response to complicated physiological changes. Defining the cellular sources of collagens in the normal and diseased states of the above metabolic tissues is thus critical to understanding metabolic disease. Under certain pathological conditions, the excess accumulation or collapse of collagens may disrupt normal cell-cell interactions, and cause the loss of tissue compliance or elasticity. Finally, these disruptions of collagens result in tissue dysfunction such as atherosclerosis of the blood vessels, pulmonary fibrosis, liver cirrhosis and fibrosis in other organs. This review will focus on the role of collagens in metabolic tissues, and attempt to summarize the function of collagens in energy metabolism.