Leslie Consitt is investigating how a protein involved in muscle growth relates to insulin resistance.
Obesity and Type 2 diabetes have reached epidemic levels in the United States and in Ohio, according to one Ohio University professor.
In order to help combat that, Leslie Consitt, an assistant professor of microanatomy, will study a protein that could possibly affect insulin resistance.
People who suffer from Type 2 diabetes, the most common form, do not process insulin properly. Insulin breaks down sugar molecules in the bloodstream.
“It is critical that we determine the cellular mechanisms that contribute to insulin resistance so that effective, preventive and treatment strategies can be developed,” Consitt said in an email.
To complete the three-year study, Consitt, a professor in OU’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, was recently awarded an almost $375,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the protein.
“The main goal of the grant is to determine the mechanism by which myostatin induces skeletal muscle insulin resistance,” Consitt said.
Consitt will recruit two different groups of people — lean, insulin sensitive and morbidly obese, insulin resistant individuals — to compare levels of the protein myostatin.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="02976bea-bc9a-11e4-a5cd-a7a3711f9bc2"}}
“One third of our researchers work with human subjects, but it’s mainly different in the way that she is actually collecting biological samples and analyzing them the way most people don’t in the Diabetes Institute,” said Darlene Berryman, an associate professor of food and nutrition and executive director of OU’s Diabetes Institute.
Consitt plans to obtain skeletal muscle biopsies from the human subjects. That process requires the use of a needle to remove a small piece of muscle tissue.
“With the skeletal muscle tissue we will examine the levels of myostatin (and the proteins it activates) to determine if insulin resistant individuals have higher levels of these proteins compared to lean, healthy individuals,” Consitt said.
Once that process is complete, Consitt will grow skeletal muscle cells and manipulate the level of the protein in the cells to see how changing levels affect insulin resistance.
“For example, if we specifically increase myostatin levels in the cells, does that cause insulin resistance?” Consitt said. “These experiments will specifically determine a cause and effect relationship.”
Consitt said that understanding the cellular process of how things like insulin resistance work can lead to more effective strategies to prevent and treat diabetes as well as other diseases.
Her research could impact advanced understanding of processes of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease, Brian Clark, professor of neuromuscular biology, said in an email.
“Leslie’s work will significantly advance our understanding of the cellular mechanisms that contribute to skeletal muscle insulin resistance,” Clark said.
The grant is the first that Consitt has received from the National Institutes of Health.
“As a junior faculty member, obtaining this grant is critical for establishing my line of research and research career,” she said. “I hope to use this grant as a springboard for additional research studies and grants.”
@kcoward02
kc769413@ohio.edu
