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Most relevant scientific articles
• duran J., Gruart a., GarCía-roCHa m., delGado-GarCía J.m., GuinoVart J.J. Glycogen accumulation un- derlies neurodegeneration and autophagy impairment in lafora disease . Human Molecular Genetics . 2014;23(12):3147-3156 .
• sáez i., duran J., sinadinos C., Beltran a., Yanes o., teVY m.F. et al . Neurons have an active glycogen metabolism that contributes to tolerance to hypoxia . Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism . 2014;34(6):945-955 .
• sinadinos C., Valles-orteGa J., Boulan l., solsona e., teVY m.F., marquez m. et al . Neuronal glycogen synthesis contributes to physiological aging . Aging Cell . 2014 .
• oliVeira J.m., reBuFFat s.a., Gasa r., Burks d.J., GarCia a., kalko s.G. et al . Tungstate promotes β-cell survival in Irs2-/- mice . American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and Metabolism . 2014;306(1) .
• Hernandez C., GarCía-ramírez m., GarCía-roCHa m., sáez-lóPez C., ValVerde a.m., GuinoVart J.J. et al . Glycogen storage in the human retinal pigment epithelium: A comparative study of diabetic and non- diabetic donors . Acta Diabetologica . 2014;51(4):543-552 .
Highlights
Institution: Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas August Pi i Sunyer Contact: Fundación Privada Instituto de Recerca Biomédica (IRB Barcelona) Josep Samitier, 1-5. 08028 Barcelona · Phone: (+34) 93 403 71 61 · E.mail: [email protected] Website: http://www .irbbarcelona .org/index .php/cat/research/programmes/ molecular-medicine/ metabolic-engineering-and-diabetes-therapy
During 2014, we showed that glycogen accumulation has beneficial or harmful effects, depending on the tissue .
Thus, we confirmed that the increase in liver glycogen reduces obesity and appetite in mice after the administration of a high-fat diet . This finding could open up a new approach for the treatment of the obesity associated with diabetes . We also demonstrated that—in contrast to what it was known until now—neurons have an active glycogen metabolism and that this protects them under stress conditions such as hypoxia .
Furthermore, our studies indicate that Lafora disease is caused by the accumulation of aberrant glycogen in neurons, as animals unable to synthesize the polysaccharide do not develop the disease . We believe that glycogen accumulation in neurons may play a role in the conditions associated with diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, and diabetic neuropathy . In this regard, in collaboration with Dr . Rafael Simó, we demonstrated that the retinal pigment epithelium can store large amounts of glycogen—a capacity that was previously unknown . In another collaborative study between CIBERDEM and Dr . Ramon Gomis, we progressed in the study of tungstate as a protective compound for beta cells .
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