Cortisol metabolism and visceral obesity: role of 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type I enzyme and reduced co-factor NADPH.

Division of Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Center for Human Nutrition, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA. anil.agarwal@utsouthwestern.edu

Several factors including genetic and environmental play a role in the development of obesity and the metabolic syndrome. The transgenic mouse overexpressing 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11beta-HSD) develops visceral obesity. However, it remains unclear how a ubiquitously expressed 11beta-HSD1 enzyme affects adipose tissue so much that it would lead to obesity. In this commentary we explore the possibility that increased intracellular availability of reduced co-factor, NADPH, could exacerbate the enzymatic activity.

PMID: 14682470 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]