Main description:

Complex and unexplained phenomena tend to foster unorthodox perspectives. This publication is an example, as is a prior publication that emphasized the concept that intermediary metabolism might play a significant and determining role in hepatocyte proliferation and 1 tumorigenesis. Formulation of this hypothesis was based on an attempt to clarify several poorly understood phenomena; including the observations: 1) that xenobiotic peroxisome proliferators such as the fibrate hypolipidemic agents induce hepatocyte proliferation and carcinogenesis in rodents; 2) that benign and malignant liver tumors complicate the human syndrome of glycogen storage disease type I (glucose-6-phosphatase deficiency); and 3) that in this same syndrome, administration of glucose exerts an anti-tumor effect. Fatty acid and glucose metabolism are tightly linked in a we- established and profoundly inportant interplay. This connection, together with the fact that peroxisome proliferator-induced hepatocyte proliferation and carcinogenesis reflects inhibition of mitochondrial carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I and fatty acid oxidation, suggested the possibility that regulation of fatty acid metabolism could prove to be a pivotal determinant in the control of cell growth. In 1993, the year in which the paper cited above was published, insight into the importance of growth factors and signal transduction pathways in cell cycle regulation was increasing rapidly, but metabolic and energetic aspects of cell proliferation had attracted relatively little attention. Despite this, the concept seemed inescapable that the two seemingly distinct and unrelated determinants — signal transduction and metabolism — were integrally linked.

Back cover:

INTEGRATION OF METABOLISM,

ENERGETICS, AND SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION

Unifying Foundations in Cell Growth and Death, Cancer,

Atherosclerosis, and Alzheimer Disease

ROBERT K. OCKNER

"Dr.  Ockner has written a fascinating and original book which explores potential metabolic links to neurodegeneration.  He takes a fresh look at metabolic pathways involving interaction between astrocyte and neuron that are important for brain health and may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease and other normal and pathological phenomena.  Dr. Ockner has a distinguished research career in fatty acid metabolism and the fatty acid binding proteins and writes with clarity upon this under-explored aspect of the brain in health and disease.  Not only is his book important for understanding links between systemic and cerebral metabolism in neurodegeneration, but  is a must read for scientists with an interest in the connection between metabolic pathways and brain function."

— Dr. Bruce Miller,

Professor of Neurology

Clinical director of the Memory and Aging Center

University of California, San Francisco

"I find this book to be a commendable and comprehensive undertaking as it encompasses an evaluation of a wide area of scientific research. Researchers working in lipid metabolism to those interested in mitochondrial energetics and in the mechanisms of signal transduction pathways in cancer and Alzheimer disease will benefit from this book."

—M.A.Q. Siddiqui,

Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology

SUNY Downstate, Brooklyn, NY

Robert K. Ockner,  M.D. is Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and is former Director of the UCSF Liver Center and Division of Gastroenterology. He and colleagues initially identified and characterized the cytosolic fatty acid binding proteins. He is a graduate of the Harvard Medical School and completed clinical and research training at Boston City Hospital, National Institutes of Health, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Cover art by Sadie McFarlane

Contents:

Prologue.- Disparate Themes: Origins and Integration.- Fatty Acids, Mitochondria, and Signal Transduction: Integrated Control of Cell Proliferation, Injury, and Death.- to Part II.- Nutrient and Energy Metabolism in Cell Proliferation.- Fatty Acids and Growth Regulation.- Mitochondrial Function in Cell Growth and Death.- Metabolic Effects of Antiproliferative Agents.- Fatty Acids and Mitochondria, Cell Growth and Injury: Broader Implications.- Metabolism and Gene Expression in Liver Regeneration.- II Conclusions.- Fatty Acids, Ketone Bodies, and Brain Metabolism: Implications for Neuronal Function and Alzheimer Disease.- to Part III.- Energetics of Neuronal Activation.- Utilization of Oxidizable Substrates in Brain.- Astrocyte Metabolism and Astrocyte-Neuron Interaction.- Neuronal Energy Metabolism in Brain: Astrocyte as both Metabolic “Buffer” and Mediator of Neuronal Injury.- Pathogenesis of Alzheimer Disease: Metabolic Factors.- III Conclusions.- Epilogue.- Looking Back, Looking Ahead.