Discovery in Fat Manipulation Could Revolutionize Plastic Surgery

A new study has found that selective addition of fat in targeted areas of the body could be controlled by a natural chemical found in the body.

Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC, Washington, DC, USA) were able to selectively add fat in targeted areas of the body in laboratory animals by injecting a natural chemical called neuropeptide Y (NPY). Release of NPY and activation of the neuropeptide Y2R (NPY2R) blocker stimulated fat angiogenesis, macrophage infiltration, and the proliferation and differentiation of new adipocytes, resulting in abdominal obesity and a metabolic syndrome-like condition. However, while NPY stimulates mouse and human fat growth, pharmacological inhibition or fat-targeted knockdown of NPY2R is anti-angiogenic and anti-adipogenic, reducing abdominal obesity and metabolic abnormalities. Thus, manipulations of NPY2R activity within fat tissue offer new ways to remodel fat and treat obesity and metabolic syndrome.

Potentially, this natural chemical could be used to induce cells into making fat in specific areas of white adipose tissue. The patient's own body would naturally fill in wrinkles or augment lips without the high re-absorption rate found with current fat injection techniques. The study was published online in the July 2007 issue of Nature Medicine.

This is the first well-described mechanism found that can effectively eliminate fat, rejuvenate the face, or re-contour the body without surgery, said co-author plastic surgeon Stephen Baker, M.D., D.DS. Unlike current methods, this natural chemical could prove to induce a person's own body to remove or add fat. We are very excited about the animal findings; however, we know more research is needed and predict that studies in humans may not begin for another two years.


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