Heart and liver fatty acid binding proteins and the metabolic syndrome.
Cytosolic fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) are widely expressed fatty acid chaperones. The adipocyte-expressed FABPs are permissive factors for the fat-induced metabolic syndrome, but a similar relevance of the FABPs of heart, muscle, and liver remains unclear. In this article, the known biochemical and physiologic roles of these FABPs are discussed in this context. It is concluded that the observations on adipocyte-expressed FABPs cannot be automatically extended to other tissues. More work is needed to clarify whether the individual or combined inhibition of FABPs is a desirable strategy to treat the metabolic syndrome.
Binas
Bert
B
Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, Raymond Stotzer Parkway, College Station, TX 77843, USA. bbinas@cvm.tamu.edu
D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D003600:Cytosol / Q000378:metabolism; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000378:metabolism*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
D015415:Biomarkers; D050556:Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins