Could a "fat transplant" — that turns bad fat and into good fat before safely returning it to the body — be just what we need to manage weight loss?
A Columbia University Engineering team has suggested just that in new research where surgeons would harvest a patient's own white fat, turn it into healthy brown fat outside of the body, and transplant it back into the patient, a statement from the university stated Wednesday.
The research, which was detailed in the journal Scientific Reports on May 21, suggests that brown fat in the body can burn large amounts of energy to generate heat, which could help not only with weight loss but also to reduce symptoms of diabetes.
Columbia Engineering stated that the technique uses fat-grafting procedures commonly performed by plastic surgeons — like liposuction — to harvest fat from under the skin and then re-transplant it into the same patient for cosmetic or reconstructive purposes.
The researchers said that they were able to successfully convert the harvested white fat to brown fat in the lab for potential use as a therapy, Columbia Engineering wrote.
"… Compared to traditional processes that involve sorting and purification of isolated progenitor cells followed by long periods of cell-culture expansion, the exBAT procedure is quick, because a single browning step acts on whole tissue fragments to convert (white fats) to (brown fat) mass, which is ready for direct implantation," researchers stated in the Scientific Reports article.
Other methods to increase brown fat include chronic cold exposure, which is uncomfortable for most people. The use of pharmaceuticals can also help, but they often have unwanted side effects.
"Our approach to increasing brown fat is potentially safer than drugs because the only thing going into patients is their own tissue, and it's highly controllable because we can tune the amount of brown fat we inject," Sam Sia, a bioengineering professor at Columbia, who led the research, said in the Columbia statement.
"The process is also so simple that it could be potentially performed using an automated system within a doctor's office or clinic," Sia added.
Columbia stated that researchers are now refining their techniques and dosages and running further studies on the treatment's impact on metabolism and weight regulation.
"There is a clear need to explore new weight-loss approaches with the potential for low rates of complications and long-term efficacy," Sia told Columbia. "The ability to culture large quantities of tissue at once while retaining its 3D vascular structure is advantageous and holds promise as a potential approach in clinical weight management."
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