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Cold-Induced Metabolic Changes In Lean, Nag-1 Transgenic Mice, Rachel J. Davey

All Master's Theses

Obesity is a multifaceted metabolic disorder with severe worldwide public health consequences. While obesity can often be treated using diet and exercise, there are complex genetic interactions driving obesity that don’t always respond to such changes. One important research focus for addressing genetic factors is activating brown adipose tissue which increases thermogenesis, the process of burning stored fats to generate heat. Cold exposure is a known way to activate brown adipose tissue through b3-adrenergic signaling. This signaling pathway causes an upregulation of thermogenesis in brown adipocytes and beige adipocytes, which is white adipose tissue that “browns” and becomes metabolically active. …