Kozawa Junji, Shimomura Iichiro
Department of Metabolic Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan.
Department of Diabetes Care Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Japan.
J Clin Med. 2021 Mar 23;10(6):1326. doi: 10.3390/jcm10061326.
Ectopic fat is found in liver, muscle, and kidney and is known to accumulate as visceral fat. In recent years, ectopic fat has also been observed in the pancreas, and it has been said that pancreatic fat accumulation is related to the pathophysiology of diabetes and the onset of diabetes, but the relationship has not yet been determined. In the heart, epicardium fat is another ectopic fat, which is associated with the development of coronary artery disease. Ectopic fat is also observed in the myocardium, and diabetic patients have more fat accumulation in this tissue than nondiabetic patients. Myocardium fat is reported to be related to diastolic cardiac dysfunction, which is one of the characteristics of the complications observed in diabetic patients. We recently reported that ectopic fat accumulation was observed in coronary arteries of a type 2 diabetic patient with intractable coronary artery disease, and coronary artery is attracting attention as a new tissue of ectopic fat accumulation. Here, we summarize the latest findings focusing on the relationship between ectopic fat accumulation in these organs and diabetic pathophysiology and complications, then describe the possibility of future treatments targeting these ectopic fat accumulations.
异位脂肪存在于肝脏、肌肉和肾脏中，并且已知会以内脏脂肪的形式积累。近年来，在胰腺中也观察到了异位脂肪，据说胰腺脂肪积累与糖尿病的病理生理学和糖尿病的发病有关，但这种关系尚未确定。在心脏中，心外膜脂肪是另一种异位脂肪，它与冠状动脉疾病的发展有关。在心肌中也观察到异位脂肪，糖尿病患者在该组织中的脂肪积累比非糖尿病患者更多。据报道，心肌脂肪与舒张性心脏功能障碍有关，舒张性心脏功能障碍是糖尿病患者并发症的特征之一。我们最近报道，在一名患有难治性冠状动脉疾病的2型糖尿病患者的冠状动脉中观察到异位脂肪积累，冠状动脉作为异位脂肪积累的新组织正受到关注。在此，我们总结了聚焦于这些器官中异位脂肪积累与糖尿病病理生理学及并发症之间关系的最新研究结果，然后描述了针对这些异位脂肪积累进行未来治疗的可能性。
