Bioengineers visualize fat storage in fruit flies after changes in diet (IMAGE)
Caption
The images represent lipid metabolism of a fruit fly fed a calorie-restricted diet. The color coding tracks different rates of lipid turnover. White areas, for example, are labeled at "0.20" This means that 20% of the fat molecules in that area of the lipid droplet "turned over." This means that new fats were stored, and then they were taken out of storage. A higher lipid turnover rate represents a more active lipid metabolism. This image is from a paper in the journal Aging Cell that tracked changes in lipid metabolism triggered by changes in diet. Compared to a standard diet, all three diets in the study increased lipid turnover rate, though different mechanisms could be at play. Older visualization platforms do not allow researchers to see changes in lipid metabolism, such as lipid turnover rate, within individual fat cells. This is the first technology that allows researchers to collect high resolution sub-cellular information in both time and space from fruit fly fat body cells.
Credit
Lingyan Shi / UC San Diego Bioengineering
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License
CC BY