.png){kind=logo}
Our Mission:
Questions & Approaches
We are interested in the following interrelated questions: How the expansion of adipose tissue relates to the development of the Metabolic Syndrome. Whether lipotoxicity and/or changes in adipokines secreted by adipose tissue affect insulin sensitivity in other organs such as skeletal muscle, heart, liver, brain, beta cells and macrophages. Whether modifications in adipogenesis and remodeling of adipose tissue may be good strategies to ameliorate the metabolic effects associated with obesity. The molecular mechanisms that control energy expenditure and brown fat activation. Whether modulation of partitioning of nutrients towards fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle and away from storage in adipose tissue may prevent the devastating metabolic effects of obesity. To address these challenges is a daunting task that requires the modulation of highly integrated and complex mechanisms of energy homeostasis designed to prevent negative energy balances. According to this integrated concept of energy homeostasis, my laboratory is using an Integrated Physiology approach that relies greatly upon the generation and detailed in vivo phenotyping of genetically modified organisms. Together with Systems Biology approach integrating transcriptomic and lipidomic analysis, using bioinformatics to identify organ specific lipid metabolic networks relevant for insulin resistance and metabolic disease.
Our
Projects
-
Adipose tissue expandability, lipotoxicity and the metabolic syndrome—an allostatic perspective. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-molecular and cell biology of lipids, 1801(3), pp.338-349. Virtue, S. and Vidal-Puig, A., 2010.
-
Adipocyte-secreted BMP8b mediates adrenergic-induced remodeling of the neuro-vascular network in adipose tissue. Nature communications, 9(1), p.4974.Pellegrinelli, V., Peirce, V.J., Howard, L., Virtue, S., Türei, D., Senzacqua, M., Frontini, A., Dalley, J.W., Horton, A.R., Bidault, G. and Severi, I., 2018.
-
Defective glucose and lipid metabolism in rheumatoid arthritis is determined by chronic inflammation in metabolic tissues. Arias de la Rosa I*, Escudero-Contreras A*, Rodríguez-Cuenca S*, Ruiz-Ponce M, Jiménez-Gómez Y, Ruiz-Limón P, Pérez-Sánchez C, Ábalos-Aguilera MC, Cecchi I, Ortega R, Calvo J, Guzmán-Ruiz R, Malagón MM, Collantes-Estevez E, Vidal-Puig A, López-Pedrera C, Barbarroja N. J Intern Med. 2018;284(1):61-77. * First co-author.
Lipotoxicity in Peripheral Organs: Fatty Liver
-
Lipotoxicity, overnutrition and energy metabolism in aging. Ageing research reviews, 5(2), pp.144-164. Slawik, M. and Vidal-Puig, A.J., 2006.
-
PPAR gamma 2 prevents lipotoxicity by controlling adipose tissue expandability and peripheral lipid metabolism. PLoS genetics, 3(4), p.e64.Medina-Gomez, G., Gray, S.L., Yetukuri, L., Shimomura, K., Virtue, S., Campbell, M., Curtis, R.K., Jimenez-Linan, M., Blount, M., Yeo, G.S.H. and Lopez, M., 2007.
-
Adipose tissue dysfunction determines lipotoxicity and triggers the metabolic syndrome: current challenges and clinical perspectives. Obesity and Lipotoxicity, pp.231-272.Carobbio, S., Pellegrinelli, V. and Vidal-Puig, A., 2024.
Brown Fat and Muscle Thermogenesis
-
Defective extracellular matrix remodeling in brown adipose tissue is associated with fibro-inflammation and reduced diet-induced thermogenesis. Cell Reports, 42(6).Pellegrinelli, V., Figueroa-Juarez, E., Samuelson, I., U-Din, M., Rodriguez-Fdez, S., Virtue, S., Leggat, J., Cubuk, C., Peirce, V.J., Niemi, T. and Campbell, M., 2023
-
Dysregulation of macrophage PEPD in obesity determines adipose tissue fibro-inflammation and insulin resistance. Nature metabolism, 4(4), pp.476-494. PLoS genetics, 3(4), p.e64.Pellegrinelli, V., Rodriguez-Cuenca, S., Rouault, C., Figueroa-Juarez, E., Schilbert, H., Virtue, S., Moreno-Navarrete, J.M., Bidault, G., Vázquez-Borrego, M.C., Dias, A.R. and Pucker, B., 2022.
-
Vav2 catalysis-dependent pathways contribute to skeletal muscle growth and glucose homeostasis. Nat Commun 11, 5808 (2020).Rodríguez-Fdez, S.*, Lorenzo-Martín, L.F., Fernández-Pisonero, I., Porteiro, B., Veyrat-Durebex, C., Beiroa, D., Al-Massadi, O., Abad, A., Diéguez, C., Coppari, R., Nogueiras, R., and Bustelo, X.R.
Macrophage Biology and Fibroinflammation
-
SREBP1-induced fatty acid synthesis depletes macrophages antioxidant defences to promote their alternative activation. Nature metabolism, 3(9), pp.1150-1162.Bidault, G., Virtue, S., Petkevicius, K., Jolin, H.E., Dugourd, A., Guénantin, A.C., Leggat, J., Mahler-Araujo, B., Lam, B.Y., Ma, M.K. and Dale, M., 2021.
-
Accelerated phosphatidylcholine turnover in macrophages promotes adipose tissue inflammation in obesity. Elife, 8, p.e47990. Petkevicius, K., Virtue, S., Bidault, G., Jenkins, B., Cubuk, C., Morgantini, C., Aouadi, M., Dopazo, J., Serlie, M.J., Koulman, A. and Vidal-Puig, A., 2019.
-
Differential lipid partitioning between adipocytes and tissue macrophages modulates macrophage lipotoxicity and M2/M1 polarization in obese mice. Diabetes, 60(3), pp.797-809. Prieur, X., Mok, C.Y., Velagapudi, V.R., Núñez, V., Fuentes, L., Montaner, D., Ishikawa, K., Camacho, A., Barbarroja, N., O’Rahilly, S. and Sethi, J.K., 2011.