Cold Induced Changes in White Adipose

Summary

An adaptation to a cold environment is a tendency to generate heat within our body. Some of this heat comes from our fat tissue. Although most fat tissue is "white fat", there are pockets deep within the body that are called "brown fat", which are specially adapted to burning fat and making heat. The investigator believes that our white fat, just underneath the surface of our skin, also has this property to burn fat and make heat, although not at the high level of brown fat. This study is to examine this fat-burning property of the white fat under the skin in response to seasons and to cold. Many such studies have been done in mice, but little has been done in humans.

There are a number of factors, including age, weight, and medical history, that may make a person eligible or ineligible to participate in this study. Certain medications could make a person ineligible, but if these medications can be safely altered, the individual may become eligible.

Conditions

• Obese
• Normal Body Weight
• Prediabetes
• Metabolic Syndrome

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Fat biopsy

up to 16 biopsy samples will be taken from each subject

DRUG

Propranolol and fat biopsy

subset of subjects will receive propranolol and have fat biopsy performed

OTHER

heavy water and fat biopsy

subset of subjects will be given heavy water and have fat biopsy performed

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

  collaborator NIH

• Philip Kern

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Philip Kern, MD · University of Kentucky

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

35 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-03-31

Primary Completion

2018-08-20

Completion

2018-08-20

FDA Drug

Yes

Countries

• United States

Study Locations