# Adipocyte Mechanotransduction and Insulin Signaling

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN · 2021 · $133,660

## Abstract

The obesity epidemic and related metabolic syndrome now pose serious threats to public health. Studies 
have redefined the role of fat cells (adipocytes) as an active regulator of insulin-glucose metabolism: 
adipocytes can cause insulin resistance to glucose uptake or, on the contrary, enhance insulin sensitivity by 
secreting pro- or anti-inflammatory adipokines, respectively. Given this changeable role of adipocytes, 
elucidating adipocyte adaptation to extracellular environments may hold a great potential in developing 
therapeutic tools for metabolic disorders related to impaired insulin action. In addition to conventional diet 
condition-based approaches, with an increasing interest in the extent to which adipocytes can sense and 
respond to extracellular mechanical loading signals, this project will test novel adipocyte 
mechanotransduction for insulin sensitization. Based on key preliminary data supporting the proposed 
adipocyte load adaptation capability, this project will examine the extent to which mechanical stretch loading 
at a specific regimen (e.g., cyclic over static stretching) upregulates adipocyte insulin signaling activity 
(Specific Aim 1), and then will aim to uncover governing molecular mechanisms: anti-inflammatory adipokine 
based (Specific Aim 2) and focal adhesion mechanosensor based (Specific Aim 3). Further, the extent to 
which primary adipocytes from an obese phenotype and exercise model will respond differently to a 
mechanical loading signal will be tested (Specific Aim 4). It is expected that successful completion of these 
aims will lay a solid foundation for novel adipocyte mechanotransduction for insulin signaling regulation. 
Further, unveiling anti-inflammatory adipokine and an adipocyte mechanosensor that govern the stretchinduced 
enhancement of insulin signaling may illuminate potential therapeutic targets for insulin sensitivityor 
resistance-related metabolic diseases.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10215444
- **Project number:** 5P20GM104320-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN
- **Principal Investigator:** Jung Yul Lim
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $133,660
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-08-05 → 2024-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10215444

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10215444, Adipocyte Mechanotransduction and Insulin Signaling (5P20GM104320-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10215444. Licensed CC0.

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