Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 (Tek) 9/26/83; site shark.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!zehntel!hplabs!tektronix!orca!shark!hutch From: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) Newsgroups: net.med Subject: Re: weight loss Message-ID: <723@shark.UUCP> Date: Sun, 29-Apr-84 17:11:32 EDT Article-I.D.: shark.723 Posted: Sun Apr 29 17:11:32 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 2-May-84 04:48:30 EDT References: <469@sequent.UUCP> Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 41 [fat fibers, fat fat fibers, carpets from k*del] Rich at sequent pointed up one of the solutions I have heard bandied about with regards to killing fat cells: engineered virus: | One technique might very well show up in the next few decades to cure the | cancer problem, although I'll be disgusted if it's also use for fat. | The method would be to redesign a *virus* to specificly attack cells that | exhibit chemical characteristics of cancer [or fat] cells. Since | viruses are already target-sensitive, the "aiming" should be feasible. | Techniques are also being discovered by which a manufactured strain | can be safeguarded against viable mutations, which might allow them to | attack non-cancer cells. No real redesign would be necessary on the viral | process itself, since viruses are already quite adept at killing cells. | The knowledge needed would be in the area of targeting (understanding | how viruses select penetration sites), immunity (you don't want the bodies | immunological defenses fighting the medicine, so the virus must be | "invisible") and immutability (prevent the tool from going astray.) I hope nobody is ever stupid enough to do this. Fat cells are very useful and necessary things. Nerves are generally cushioned by fat cells, and there are some suspicions that destruction of fat cells around nerves leads to things like dystrophy and palsy. They keep skin elastic and protect underlying tissues. Further, if you were to destroy a lot of fat cells without at the same time removing the stored fat, you are going to cause an immediate life-threatening state, as fatty acids crowd into the blood beyond the body's ability to cope. I can just see the new plague of the year 2010: the dreaded and horrid wasting disease which causes victims to turn to puddles of cholesterol. Fortunately, fat cells might not be vulnerable to normal viral action. As I understand it (someone please correct me if I am wrong) fat cells lose their nuclei fairly soon after their formation, and are simply cellular membrane storage engines. New fat cells are formed by specialization of undifferentiated cells whenever most of the current cells are full. This gives rise to the problems of dramatic obesity: such a person has many many more fat cells trying to be filled to their comfort point, and fat cells take a long time to wear out. Hutch