A polymerase chain reaction-based method for isolating clones from a complimentary DNA library in sheep.

The sheep (Ovis aries) is favored by many musculoskeletal tissue engineering groups as a large animal model because of its docile temperament and ease of husbandry. The size and weight of sheep are comparable to humans, which allows for the use of implants and fixation devices used in human clinical practice. The construction of a complimentary DNA (cDNA) library can capture the expression of genes in both a tissue- and time-specific manner.

The role of liver fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase in regulating appetite and adiposity.

Liver fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) is a regulatory enzyme in gluconeogenesis that is elevated by obesity and dietary fat intake. Whether FBPase functions only to regulate glucose or has other metabolic consequences is not clear; therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the importance of liver FBPase in body weight regulation. To this end we performed comprehensive physiologic and biochemical assessments of energy balance in liver-specific transgenic FBPase mice and negative control littermates of both sexes.

Adipose tissue from pregnant women with and without gestational diabetes mellitus: insulin-sensitive but resistant to hyperosomolarity.

Objective: We sought to determine the contribution of adipose tissue to the insulin resistance of pregnancy. We also investigated whether hyperosmolar stress (induced by sorbitol) stimulates glucose uptake in human adipose tissue and, if so, whether this effect is altered in pregnancy and gestational diabetes mellitus.

Study Design: Subcutaneous and omental adipose tissue biopsy specimens were obtained at elective abdominal surgery or cesarean delivery from 16 normal glucose-tolerant pregnant women, 13 pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus, and 19 body mass index-matched nonpregnant control subjects.

Fibroblast growth factor 1: a key regulator of human adipogenesis.

Obesity, with its related problems, is recognized as the fastest growing disease epidemic facing the world, yet we still have limited insight into the regulation of adipose tissue mass in humans. We have previously shown that adipose-derived microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs) secrete a factor(s) that increases proliferation of human preadipocytes. We now demonstrate that coculture of human preadipocytes with MVECs significantly increases preadipocyte differentiation, evidenced by dramatically increased triacylglycerol accumulation and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity compared with controls.