PhD defence: Lipid binding proteins in skeletal muscle

Jacob Jeppesen

PhD thesis

The importance of long chain fatty acids (LCFA) for cellular homeostasis and as fuel for energy metabolism is well known. The uptake of plasma LCFA and especially the transport across the plasma membrane has long been considered to occur by passive diffusion with the uptake being dependent solely on the transmembrane LCFA concentration gradient. However, within the past decade numerous studies have indicated that the transmembrane transport of LCFA involved a protein dependent component. In line with this, several putative lipid “transport or binding” proteins have been identified.

Skeletal muscle, a tissue in which fatty acids are very important for energy turnover, expresses several lipid binding proteins such as FABPpm, FATP1, FATP4 and FAT/CD36. The present PhD thesis brings the obtained research results from four studies and unpublished work and the current knowledge in the lipid metabolism field together in a detailed overview on the role of lipid binding proteins in LCFA uptake in skeletal muscle.

This PhD thesis has taken a special focus on the cellular localization and cellular trafficking of the lipid binding proteins in skeletal muscle.

2010, 192 pages, DKR 100,-
ISBN: 978 87 917 71 293 

Time

Friday September 17, 2010 at 15.30 o'clock

Place

Auditorium 1, August Krogh building, Universitetsparken 13, 2100 Copenhagen Ø

Opponents

Professor Joachim Füllekrug, Molecular Cell Biology, Internal Medicine IV, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany

Professor Lorraine P. Turcotte, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, USA

Professor Ylva Hellsten, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (chairman)  

Supervisor

Professor Bente Kiens, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Science,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark