Concentration or composition that is the question! How do exogenous fatty acids contribute to changes in metabolic flexibility of skeletal muscle?

Excess levels of fat in skeletal muscle has been suggested to contribute to non-communicable diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. As a result, there is significant interest in how skeletal muscle is able to manage excess fat importantly, how excess fat contributes to the development of metabolic disease in skeletal muscle. Individual fats exert distinct effects on skeletal muscle therefore replicating both the physiological composition and concentrations of fat in vitro, is crucial in understanding their impact on skeletal muscle metabolism.
In order to investigate the response of skeletal muscle to fat, this project will use Real-Time Cell Metabolic Analysis to establish how physiological and pathophysiological concentrations of FA impact mitochondrial function, capacity and substrate utilisation in human skeletal muscle cells.