Exposure to air pollution can promote the development of obesity and insulin resistance, one of the factors that cause diabetes. It is a hypothesis that is being tested in the doctoral research of student Olívia Zordão, linked to the Center for Research in Obesity and Comorbidities – OCRC, based at Unicamp. The work is among several posters displayed at the V OCRC Symposium, held until this Friday, (25) at Unicamp. For five years, researchers at the center have been studying the relationships between obesity and all the diseases it accompanies, such as diabetes, hypertension or atherosclerosis, among others.
OCRC is one of the Research, Innovation and Diffusion Centers (Cepids), supported by Fapesp. The symposium brought together researchers in the area over two days. In addition to lectures, results already obtained from various researches are presented. And there is a lot to celebrate. According to the center's director, Licio Augusto Velloso, in five years more than 500 scientific works were published, obtaining more than 7 thousand citations, in addition to some patented products.
A program to disseminate knowledge to the community, involving children from public schools, is also worth highlighting. “Activities were carried out with primary and secondary school children, mainly in public schools in Campinas. We managed to reach more or less 85 thousand people in five years”, stated the director.
With researchers visiting schools to talk about good eating habits and the importance of physical exercise, or receiving groups of students at Unicamp, the work sought to awaken in children the desire to improve their diet and quality of life. “Although it is difficult to change children's habits, we need to plant a seed. If they already know from a young age that doing physical activities and eating a certain way are good things, it’s already a big step”, he reported.
In five years at OCRC, 120 master's dissertations and doctoral theses were completed and more than fifty postdoctoral fellows were supervised. All students brought resources to the University through scholarships or supplementary funds.
Regarding research, most studies, according to Velloso, are seeking to identify targets for potential medications to treat obesity-related diseases. “Diabetes, for example, we still don’t have a definitive solution for the disease. Patients need to take medications continuously. As there are related genetic components, we seek to identify them to try, in the future, some form of therapy that can offer a more definitive treatment for these diseases.”
Olívia Zordão studies the perinatal exposure of mice to air pollution. “Pregnant or breastfeeding mothers are exposed to an atmospheric particle concentrator that captures real street pollution. We estimated the time it would take to equal an area exposure for humans in the same region”, describes the doctoral student. In the final stage of the work, Olívia was able to observe that the male mice gained weight and had changes in their glucose metabolism. It remains to be seen what will happen to the puppies, who only finish having their brains formed during the breastfeeding period. “It may be that there is metabolic programming because the formation of mouse neurocircuits occurs during lactation, different from what occurs in humans.” Olívia is supervised by professor Patrícia Prada, from the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCA) and the work is in collaboration with the research group of professors Mariana Veras and Paulo Saldiva, from the University of São Paulo (Usp)
The work developed by Marcella Ramos Sant'Ana, at the Nutritional Genomics Laboratory, in Limeira, suggests that just improving the quality of fat consumed is enough to reduce the risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. “Studies show that the disease is closely related to obesity. A diet high in saturated fat leads to inflammation in the central nervous system and insulin resistance, which may be responsible for the emergence of risk factors related to Alzheimer's disease.” The student is guided by professor Dennys Cintra, from FCA.
In the study, the researcher induced obesity in mice and then replaced the diet rich in pork fat with a diet containing flaxseed oil, rich in omega 3. “We were able to reduce inflammation and improve insulin resistance, reducing risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.” Cognitive tests, carried out in a water maze, showed that animals that received flaxseed oil escaped much faster and were able to retain their memories for longer.
