Botanical Dietary Supplements Research Center (BDSRC)
Mission
The mission of the Botanical Dietary Supplements Research Center is to pursue an integrated understanding of the molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms by which select botanicals may prevent or reverse the development of insulin resistance, the key pathophysiologic feature of the metabolic syndrome.
About the Botanicals Research Center
The Botanical Dietary Supplements Research Center was successfully funded for a second 5-year cycle in 2010 by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. Our center is a collaborative effort between the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and the Biotechnology Center for Agriculture and the Environment at Rutgers University.
The theme of our center is “Botanicals and Metabolic Syndrome.” The metabolic syndrome has traditionally defined a condition whose major features consisted of obesity, insulin resistance, development of type 2 diabetes, and accelerated cardiovascular disease. The development and appearance of other traditional risk factors, e.g., hypertension, dyslipidemia, and nontraditional risk factors, e.g., inflammation, coagulopathy, are also associated with the condition. Because of the staggering increase in the prevalence of obesity that has now reached epidemic proportions and the fact that the components of the metabolic syndrome have become increasingly prevalent in children, this syndrome continues to represent one of the most important public health problems facing society today. As such, the study of botanicals and their effects to modulate pathologic processes as part of the metabolic syndrome has become even more important since the inception of our center.
Goals The scientific goal of our center is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of
specific, compelling hypotheses about the molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms
by which botanicals can modulate the development of the underlying pathophysiologic
mechanisms of, and attenuate the development to, metabolic syndrome. To accomplish
our goal, our center has encompassed the disciplines of nutrition, plant chemistry/characterization,
metabolism, physiology, endocrinology, molecular and cellular biology, and genetics
and has spanned both the basic and clinical sciences. Thus, our interdisciplinary
approach has allowed for a comprehensive evaluation of botanicals on pathogenic processes
by evaluating multiple cellular mechanisms of action.
Our center consists of three specific research projects, each of which evaluates a
specific botanical and assesses the effect on pathogenic mechanisms leading to the
development of insulin resistance. Project 1 investigators are conducting studies
to evaluate mechanisms of action by which selected extracts of Artemisia sp. modulate
insulin receptor signaling and insulin sensitivity in both animal and early-phase
human studies. Project 2 investigators are focusing on mechanisms by which selected
Artemisia sp. extracts and Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John’s wort) affect adipocyte
development, adipokines, and insulin action. Project 3 investigators are evaluating
how Asclepias incarnata modulates central mechanisms controlling appetite and energy
expenditure as a means to improve overall energy balance and weight. Our projects
are supported by a Botanical Core and an Administrative Core. A unique aspect of our
center is the formation of the Integrative Biology Core, which includes an Animal
Research Subcore and the Analytical Chemistry Subcore, comprising a clinical chemistry/stable
isotope component and a proteomic/metabolomic component. This combines state-of-the-art
in vivo metabolic phenotyping with detailed ex vivo proteomic and metabolomic profiling
of serum and tissue samples to provide highly integrated metabolic signatures of the
pathophysiology of insulin resistance and its resolution by botanical extracts. As
such, each project is supported by cutting-edge technologies that include metabolomic
profiling, proteomic assessments, and bioaccessibility determinations.
For more information, visit the BRC website: http://botanical.pbrc.edu
KEY PERSONNEL
Pennington Biomedical Research Center:
- Jacqueline Stephens, Ph.D. - Co-Director
- Elizabeth Floyd, Ph.D. - Co-Director
- Phillip Brantley, Ph.D.
- William Johnson, Ph.D.
- Randall Mynatt, Ph.D.
- Richard Rogers, Ph.D.
- Jennifer Rood, Ph.D.
- J. Michael Salbaum, Ph.D.
Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ:
- Ilya Raskin, Ph.D.
- David Ribnicky, Ph.D.