According to a research report published in the September 2010 issue of The FASEB Journal, a new protein called "Sprouty" is responsible for regulating body fat and bone mass. Researchers studied two groups of transgenic mice (having genes transferred from another species) -- one with a genetic deletion of the Sprouty gene in cells that develop into fat and bone, and the other with high levels of Sprouty in the same cell types.
Mice with deleted Sprouty had increased body fat and loss of bone mass (like osteoporosis) compared to normal mice. The bone loss was reversed as Sprouty was added back. The group of mice with excess Sprouty were lean and had increased bone mass. The findings could lead to therapeutic targets for patients with obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and heart disease.
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