BAR HARBOR — The elusive goal of keeping fat cells from developing while doing nothing is one step closer to reality, researchers say.

Researchers at Stony Brook University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and The Jackson Laboratory (TJL) in Bar Harbor, have demonstrated that mice receiving 15 weeks of high-frequency, low-magnitude mechanical signals (i.e., virtually imperceptible vibrations) developed far fewer fat cells than genetically identical mice not receiving the treatment. The procedure also substantially reduced triglycerides in the liver and other key risk factors in Type 2 diabetes.

According to lead researcher Dr. Clinton Rubin, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University, the study results are striking. The method used may someday lead to a non-strenuous, drug-free method for control of obesity. The study is published in this week’s online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

One of the authors of the study, Dr, Clifford Rosen, is an osteoporosis researcher at TJL. “Obesity and Type 2 diabetes are a real threat to public health in the United States and the rest of the developed world,” Dr. Rosen said. “People know they’re supposed to eat less and exercise more, but aren’t always successful. We’re now looking at a possible treatment for humans at risk for these diseases, especially elderly people with limited mobility.”

Dr. Rubin and colleagues at Stony Brook University, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island and TJL, investigated what affect vibration would have on fat cells. They subjected mice to virtually imperceptible vibrations for 15 minutes a day for 15 weeks, and reported the results in a paper titled “Adipogenesis is inhibited by brief, daily exposure to high-frequency, extremely low-magnitude mechanical signals.”

By the end of the 15-week period, the vibrated mice had nearly 28 percent less fat in the torso than control animals. In addition, levels of fatty compounds linked to Type 2 diabetes, such as triglycerides and free fatty acids, were reduced by 43 percent and 39 percent, respectively, in the livers of vibrated mice.

“These low-magnitude mechanical signals appear to do something remarkable, and that is inhibit the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into fat cells,” said Dr. Rubin, indicating that stem cells turn into either fat, bone, or muscle cells. “Theoretically, a mechanical signal that controls the differentiation of stem cells could prevent obesity and perhaps osteoporosis by inducing the cells to develop into bone or muscle cells rather than fat cells.”

Two different strains of mouse from TJL were used in the study.

Dr. Rubin emphasizes that many steps are ahead of the research team before they can demonstrate that low-magnitude vibration may reduce the production of fat in humans, let alone develop a targeted therapy. The results, however, bring a new view on the etiology of obesity, from both a developmental and metabolic perspective, researchers say.

The study and continued research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the W.H. Coulter Translational Research Award.