The role of adipose tissue hypoxia in obesity and obstructive sleep apnea.

Obesity and the metabolic syndrome are highly prevalent in children, adolescents and adults. It is known that the components of the metabolic syndrome track from childhood to adolescence and adulthood implicating an earlier onset of cardiovascular morbidity. This stresses the importance of early prevention and management of obesity. Unfortunately, the medical management of obesity remains challenging. It is therefore important to study certain comorbidities that might have an additional contribution on obesity and the components of the metabolic syndrome and to study the mechanisms by which such interactions may contribute to metabolic dysregulation. In this perspective, we study obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as an important contributor of additional morbidity in obese subjects.Adipose tissue is an important factor in the development of obesity and its associated comorbidities. The adipocyte is a major source of proinflammatory cytokines and adipokines, and all of these molecules can exert potential negative or positive effects on several organ systems in an endocrine or paracrine fashion. One of the hypothesis linking OSA to adipocyte dysfunction in obese subjects is an exacerbation of the concomitant obesity-related hypoxia in the adipose tissue. In view of the high prevalence of OSA in obesity and of the established independent link between OSA and the metabolic syndrome, it is crucial to study the possible effects of OSA on the adipose tissue, as this will increase our knowledge on the pathophysiological mechanisms linking obesity, OSA and the metabolic syndrome.This translational research project will focus on the impact of OSA on the adipose tissue by investigating the possible crucial role of hypoxia on adipose tissue dysregulation. A high-fat diet mice model will be initiated to get a better understanding of the hypoxia processes during obesity, and to correlate this with obesity-related comorbidities. In parallel during a clinical study subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue biopsies are collected during bariatric surgery in adolescents and young adults.

Keywords:OBESITAS, SLEEP APNEA, ADIPASE TISSUE

Disciplines:Endocrinology and metabolic diseases, Respiratory medicine