Metabolic Disease
By employing methods that mimic the neurobiochemical physiology responsible for the seasonal shift from the obese, insulin resistant condition to the lean, insulin sensitive state common among vertebrate species in the wild, it is possible to develop new treatment strategies for human metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Changes in the circadian phase relations of distinct neuroendocrine rhythms drive the annual cycle of metabolism among vertebrates in the wild.
Consequently, it is not merely supplying the neuroendocrine factors of the “lean” season that produces leanness but rather supplying the circadian neuroendocrine blueprint that accomplishes this shift. Methods aimed at doing so, can function to alleviate and induce the obese, insulin resistant condition as is the case in the wild. We are developing different ways of applying this science to provide effective and practical means of treating human metabolic diseases.
