How our nerves control fat cell function

The structure and function of the sympathetic nervous system in perivascular adipose tissue in health and obesity

Professor Anthony Heagerty and his team at the University of Manchester are studying how obesity increases a person’s risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Almost a quarter of UK adults are obese, but we don’t fully understand how obesity leads to these conditions. Professor Heagerty has shown that fat cells around blood vessels release factors that relax the small arteries in healthy, lean people. However, when people gain weight, this mechanism is lost. In this project, Professor Heagerty wants to investigate how nerves within fat tissue influence the factors released from the fat cells and their relaxing effect on small arteries. He will study the nervous system of these fat cells in detail, creating 3D images of the artery and the surrounding fat using state-of-the-art electron microscopy techniques. He will record what happens to the relaxation state of small arteries when the nerve supply to fat cells is lost, and in mouse models of high fat diet and obesity. By understanding how nerves control fat cells and how this is disrupted in obesity, this research could reveal new ways to avoid the consequences of obesity and reduce the associated risk of high blood pressure.