Obesity Could Be Linked to Exposure to Common Chemicals
Scientists at Cedars-Sinai have developed a new testing system that has the potential to provide safe and cost-effective methods for evaluating the health effects of existing and new chemicals in the environment on humans. Their experiment demonstrated how chronic exposure to butylhydroxytoluene (BHT), an antioxidant commonly added to breakfast cereal, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a polymer found in some cookware, and tributyltin (TBT), found in paints and some seafood, can interfere with the interactions between the gastrointestinal tract and brain responsible for eating behaviors. The breakdown of this signal, their findings showed, resulted in the continued consumption of food, which can cause weight gain and lead to metabolic disorders.
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In their study1, the researchers obtained blood samples from adults and converted them into pluripotent stem cells, which were used to grow human epithelium tissue, and neuronal tissues of the hypothalamus region. Tissues were exposed to BHT, PFOA, and TBT, separately and together.
Each chemical was found to disrupt the networks that allowed signaling hormones between the gastrointestinal tract and hypothalamus region of the brain to maintain their structures and be transported out of cells, with BHT causing the most detrimental effects. In addition, the chemicals damaged mitochondria. "When we tested the 3 together, the combined stress was more robust," said Dhruv Sareen, principal investigator of this study and assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences and director of the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Core Facility at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute.
"By testing these chemicals on actual human tissues in the lab, we potentially could make these evaluations easier to conduct and more cost-effective," Sareen said.2
"This is a landmark study that substantially improves our understanding of how endocrine disruptors may damage human hormonal systems and contribute to the obesity epidemic in the US," said Clive Svendsen. director of the institute and the Kerry and Simone Vickar Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Regenerative Medicine.2
—Melissa Weiss
Reference:
1) Rajamani U, Gross AR, Ocampo C, Andres AM, Gottlieb RA, Sareen D. Endocrine disruptors induce perturbations in endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria of human pluripotent stem cell derivatives [published online August 9, 2017]. Nat Commun. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00254-8.
2) Study shows how food preservatives may disrupt human hormones and promote obesity [press release]. Los Angele, CA: Cedars-Sinai; August 9, 2017. https://www.cedars-sinai.edu/About-Us/News/News-Releases-2017/Study-Shows-How-Food-Preservatives-May-Disrupt-Human-Hormones-and-Promote-Obesity.aspx.