EASDEUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF DIABETESASSOCIATION EUROPEENE POUR L’ETUDE DU DIABETE · EUROPÄISCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR DIABETOLOGIE

Rheindorfer Weg 3 · D-40591 Düsseldorf · Germany · Tel: +49-211-7 58 46 90 · Fax: +49-211-75 84 69 29E-mail: easd@uni-duesseldorf.de · Homepage: http://www.easd.org

EASD

News Section6/2003

June 2003

Dear EASD Members,

As you surely know, EASD will not hold its annual meeting this year. This has beenthe tradition in a year when the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) holds its ownmeeting in Europe as will be the case in Paris in August. In keeping with the continu-ing close collaboration between EASD and IDF, EASD has helped in the handling ofthe abstracts for the IDF meeting and we are delighted that so many EASD membershave decided to attend the meeting.

Although we are not holding our own meeting this year, IDF has graciouslyallowed us to hold our three major lectures (Oscar Minkowski, Claude Bernard andCamillo Golgi). We are most grateful.

We also wish to alert you to the fact that we shall be holding the EASD GeneralAssembly at the Congress Centre in Paris on Thursday 28 August at 17:30. As al-ways, all members are encouraged to attend. This is the occasion to be updated onrecent EASD and EFSD activities. The agenda of the General Assembly is includedin this issue of the EASD News Section.

We look forward to seeing you at the IDF Congress in Paris.

Yours sincerely,

Philippe A HalbanPresident EASD and EFSD

MINUTES OF THE 38th GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF DIABETES held in the Balaton Hall, Budapest Fair Center on Wednesday 4th September 2002

completed. This will be called the EFSD/Eli LillyFund and will contribute upto 2 million Euro over aperiod of 3 years. This brings total committed fundingby EFSD to over 16 million Euro. He explained thatdiscussions with GlaxoSmithKline were on-going andhe hoped to be able to announce details of a new part-nership in the forthcoming months.

Dr Halban reported that after successful campaign-ing in Brussels diabetes research was back in the 6th

Framework Programme. An Expression of Interesthad been submitted by EASD under the name ofEURADIA, which is composed of EASD, FEND, IDFand 5 industry partners (Aventis, Eli Lilly, Glaxo-SmithKline, Novo Nordisk and Servier). Regardlessof any eventual request for funding from the EU,EURADIA will already start to co-ordinate and fur-ther promote diabetes research in Europe.

b) Honorary TreasurerDr Kolb reported that for the past three years the in-come had fluctuated depending on the various balanc-es from the Annual Meetings. The amounts whichcould be donated either to the EFSD or the countrywhere the Meeting had been held varied accordingly.Dr Kolb continued that the income from membershipfees was down slightly in 2001 because some Goldmembers had not yet paid by the end of 2001. Dona-tions had increased slightly and bank interest had in-creased substantially due to the fact that the positivebalances from two Meetings had been received. Thetotal income for 2001 was Euro 2,193,570 and thiscovered the expenditures of the Association as well asproviding some savings. These savings would in partbe used to cover costs of the EASD in 2003 whenthere would be no Annual Meeting. Any additional as-sets would be donated to the European Foundation forthe Study of Diabetes. Regarding expenditure, therental costs had increased because of the move to larg-er, more expensive premises. Included in the FreeLoans were one to Budapest and one to Athens. Traveland Stayment Grants had remained stable.

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Present: Drs PA Halban (President)H Kolb (Honorary Treasurer)AJM Boulton (Honorary Secretary)W Waldhäusl (Editor-in-Chief, Diabetologia)V Jörgens (Executive Director)

and 67 members

The President welcomed everyone to the 38th GeneralAssembly. He asked those present to stand in memoryof the following members who had passed away: Drs M Berger (D), L Krall (USA), F Malaisse-Lagae (B), D McGarry (USA), K Oberdisse (D) and G Sachse (D).

1. MINUTES, 37th GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2001

Since there were no comments, the minutes were ap-proved and officially signed as a correct record.

2. REPORTS

a) President: Dr Halban said he would like to take theopportunity to thank the Local Organising Committee,headed by Drs Halmos and Jermendy, for the tremen-dous amount of work they had done over the years toorganise the 38th Annual Meeting in Budapest, whichwas being attended by a record number of participants.

Dr Halban thanked the industry partners for the fi-nancial support received from them. He continued thatmost of his report would deal with the activities ofEFSD. He explained that EFSD had started fundinggrants after a process of rigorous peer review. TheEFSD supports the following programmes:

● EFSD/JDRF/Novo Nordisk Type 1 Diabetes Re-search Programme

● EFSD/Novo Nordisk Type 2 Diabetes ResearchProgramme

● EFSD/Johnson & Johnson European Research Pro-gramme for Type 2 Diabetes

● EFSD/Servier European Research Programme onVascular Complications of Type 2 Diabetes

● 2002 Albert Renold Career Development Award● 2002 EFSD-MSD Travel Fellowship Awards

The President continued by reporting that negotiationswith Eli Lilly concerning a new partnership had been

Dr Halban thanked Dr Kolb on behalf of EASD forthe tremendous amount of work he did as HonoraryTreasurer.

c) Honorary AuditorsDr Landgraf reported on behalf of himself and DrSkrha. He confirmed that the accounts had beenchecked in Düsseldorf and were in perfect order.When there were no questions, Dr Halban asked for avote to accept the accounts. The accounts were ac-cepted by all members present with one abstention (DrKolb).

d) Honorary SecretaryDr Boulton reported that a record number (1921) ofabstracts had been received and reviewed anonymous-ly at the Programme Committee Meeting. Of those ac-cepted 258 were orals and 992 were posters, resultingin a rejection rate of 35%. In anticipation of the nextEASD Meeting (Munich, September 2004) DrBoulton said he had decided it was sensible to appointthe Programme Committee as early as possible (June2003) so that they could meet at the IDF Paris meetingin August 2003 to put together the State of the ArtLectures and Symposia. Regarding the EASD/ADAand ADA/EASD Symposia, they would be organisedat the respective Annual Meetings. EASD had put to-gether some guidelines for the development of thesesymposia.

Dr Boulton reported that 117 Travel Grants in theamount of Euro 72,902 and 16 Stayment Grants hadbeen awarded.

Dr Boulton explained that due to the need for stan-dardisation of glycated haemoglobin measurementsand mainly at the instigation of Dr J Nerup, a meetinghad been held in the EASD office in Düsseldorf inJanuary with members of the ADA, IDF, the Federa-tion of Clinical Chemists and EASD. A report on themeeting had been included in Diabetologia. It wasagreed that work should continue to develop a masterequation to relate the new methodology to the previ-ous reference method and that measurement should becorrected by such a master equation to DCCT/UKPDSstandards. Subsequent to this meeting there was ameeting hosted by the National GlycohaemoglobinStandardisation Programme (NGSP) during the ADAmeeting in San Francisco. The NGSP was strongly ofthe opinion that there should be standardisation ofGHb so that standard lab results could be comparableto DCCT/UKPDS standards.

Dr Halban thanked Dr Boulton for the enormousamount of work he had put into organising the scien-tific content of the 38th Annual Meeting, for which todate he had received only praise. He asked if therewere any questions. Dr Heine paid his compliments toDr Boulton saying that it was really a major issue notto have an overlap in symposia. He asked if memberscould submit ideas for symposia a little earlier. Dr

Boulton said this was certainly a good idea. DrLandgraf questioned the fact that the Meet the Profes-sor sessions had not taken place this year. Dr Boultonsaid that due to the fact that some sessions had beenpoorly attended in Glasgow, it had been decided todiscontinue them.

e) Editor-in-Chief, DiabetologiaDr Waldhäusl reported that Diabetologia maintained avolume of roughly 1600 pages. About 900 manu-scripts were received for review with an acceptancerate of around 22%. The overall time interval from re-ceipt to publication was 181 days in 2001 comparedwith 175 days in 2000. Most articles were receivedfrom Japan, USA and UK. The Impact Factor is 6.3and 7.7 for Diabetes.

Dr Halban thanked Dr Waldhäusl for his report andasked if there were any questions. The question ofelectronic submissions was raised. Dr Waldhäusl saidthat Version 2 of Scholar One was not suitable for useby Diabetologia, so they were waiting for Version 3.Dr Heine said he was surprised that the number of pa-pers was stabilising, because he thought the numberfor Diabetes had increased. Dr Waldhäusl said he hadno figures for USA.

He pointed out that the quality of the articles wasalready improving. Dr Heine asked if there was a needto increase the number of pages. Dr Waldhäusl said hedid not think this was necessary at the moment.

f) Chair, Post Graduate Education Sub-committeeDr Feldt-Rasmussen reported that he had taken overthe position from Dr Boulton. He continued that duringthe second half of 2001 and the first half of 2002courses had been held in Ireland, Austria, Norway andGreece. The now annual course held in Loipersdorf,Austria and organised by Dr Pieber had been very wellattended and the post course evaluation had been ex-cellent. Future courses were planned for Hungary (di-rectly after the Annual Meeting in Budapest), Germany(two courses), Italy, Austria and Lithuania. Dr Feldt-Rasmussen said that holding a course in Africa wascurrently being considered in association with ADAand in collaboration with the local IDF office there.

Dr Halban thanked Dr Feldt-Rasmussen, addingthat the courses had attracted world-wide attention fortheir quality. When there were no questions, he movedon.

3. ELECTIONS

a) Vice-President 2002–2005The Council’s election of Dr Wallberg-Henriksson (S)was unanimously approved.

Dr Halban presented Dr Soltész with the AlbertRenold Medal for his faithful services as Vice-Presi-dent for the period 1999–2002.

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b) Editor-in-Chief, Diabetologia 2003–2006The Council’s election of Dr E Gale (UK), who hadleft the room, was unanimously approved.

c) Honorary Treasurer 2003–2006The Council’s election of Dr J Skrha (CZ) was unani-mously approved.

d) Honorary Auditors 2002–2005The Council’s nomination of Drs Spinas (CH) andScheen (B) was unanimously approved.

e) Council Members 2003–2006Drs I Gourieva (Russia), S Lenzen (D), C Sanjeevi(S), and J-L- Selam (F) were unanimously elected bythe General Assembly.

4. HONORARY MEMBERSHIP

The nominations of Drs M Berger (D) and T Deckert(DK) were unanimously accepted by the General As-

sembly. Dr Halban explained he had contacted DrBerger in July, shortly before his death. Dr Berger saidhe was touched and would be deeply honoured to ac-cept Honorary Membership. Dr Deckert was unfortu-nately unable to attend the Meeting.

5. ANY OTHER BUSINESS

Dr Halban announced that an e-mail would be sent toall members with a valid address asking them to makea contribution to the Foundation with the intention ofsetting up a Members Fellowship/Grant.

The President brought the meeting to a close at18:50 by thanking the members of the Council andExecutive Committee for all the work they had done.He also thanked Dr Nerup for his collaboration asChairman of the Advisory Board and Dr Jörgens,Cathy, Karen, Mary and Regina at the EASD officefor their friendly help and co-operation.

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Table 1. Consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 December 2001

Income Euro 2000 Euro 20001

Membership fees incl. Diabetetologia 607.188,04 494.024,21Donations 227.798,58 269.195,93Springer Reimbursement 188.891,15Annual Meeting Balance 4.059.857,78 731.108,55– repaid free loan 164.203,61– reimbursed AM expenses 295.266,15 347.480,19Bank interest 48.526,79 108.226,05Closing of Spanish A/C 378,70Scientists Training Course fees 4.170,97 3.742,96Expired Bonds, taxes 255.645,94Reimbursed expenses from EFSD 35.000,00Reimbursed taxes (KapErtSt+Soli) 15.522,25

Total Income 5.662.657,86 2.193.569,99

Expenditure Euro 2000 Euro 2001

Salaries (Secr,ExDir,Soc.Ins) 208.749,40 252.233,40Rent, Heating, Electricity 15.526,87 27.125,00Post, Phone/Fax, Printing 32.766,88 29.010,81Travel / Meeting Expenses 109.894,93 147.862,05Office Costs, incl. Bank charges 51.047,27 53.103,91Extra office help 1.964,38 5.782,20Legal cost and accounting 8.541,45 5.353,56Annual Meeting expenses 137.145,55 298.266,09Abstract Volume –,– –,–Free loans to Local Organisers 82.101,81 223.023,95Donation to Local Organisers 1.161.039,45Travel and Stayment Grants 108.933,14 105.027,65Prizes and Fellowships 223.323,90 126.124,00Donation others 16.420,36Diabetologia subscriptions 521.075,48 325.440,44Editorial Office 106.074,68 104.245,04Other items incl. PGESC, Office Move 14.154,93 68.092,37Scientists Training Course 55.939,08 12.924,29Presidents’ Secretaries 30.242,73EFSD 2.303.095,61 376.500,94Bonds 424.767,29

Total 4.421.523,01 3.351.397,88

Exchange rates:2000: £/Euro 0,6090; DM/Euro 1,955832001: £/Euro 0,6221; DM/Euro 1,95583

All EASD Accounts

31 December 2000 31 December 2001

Euro EuroCurrent a/c (DreBa/Dt) 37.958,41 1.277.511,56Fixed 613.550,26Extra Savings 79.471,22Bonds 422.045,00Euro-Subtotal 1.153.024,89 1.277.511,56

Pound Sterling in Euro Pound Sterling in EuroCurrent a/c 500,00 802,18 500,00 816,74Business Res. a/c 707.061,42 1.161.020,39 30.844,70 50.383,95Treasury Reserve 200.000,00 328.407,22 80.000,00 130.677,74Pound-Subtotal 907.561,42 1.490.229,79 111.344,70 181.878,43

SFr in Euro SFr in EuroSFr Current + Fixed 124.452,75 81.753,10 127.096,05 85.675,45

Pesetas in EuroCurrent a/c 66.364,00 398,86

Total Euro: 2.725.406,64 1.545.065,44

Exchange rates: 31 December 2000 31 December 2001DM/Euro 1,95583 DM/Euro 1,95583£/Euro 1,6044 £/Euro 1,6335SFr/Euro 0,6569 SFr/Euro 0,6741PTs/Euro (100) 0,601

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Table 2. Future EASD Annual Meetings

2004 5–9 September Munich, Germany2005 10–15 September Athens, Greece2006 Copenhagen/Malmö, Denmark/Sweden2007 Amsterdam, The Netherlands2008 Turin, Italy2009 Vienna, Austria

Table 3. Breakdown of membership by country compared to previous years:

2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991

Albania 3 4 4 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0Algeria 0 0 8 8 6 13 2 4 4 1 0Argentina 12 9 12 12 9 8 7 8 7 6 6Armenia 2 2 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0Australia 97 90 87 97 66 79 69 62 66 61 54Austria 86 101 93 85 71 112 70 60 54 57 37Azerbaijan (CIS) 6 5 5 9 10 7 7 7 0 0 0Bahrain 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0Bangladesh 20 8 13 28 23 18 14 6 3 3 1Belarus (CIS) 17 18 13 0 7 7 3 4 1 0 1Belgium 120 141 185 145 122 153 144 133 154 161 140Bolivia 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0Bosnia-Herzegov 2 15 19 12 3 0 0 0 0 0 0Brazil 29 30 28 32 19 20 13 12 10 9 9Bulgaria 39 36 41 41 34 66 62 67 59 36 32

Table 3. (continued)

2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991

Cameroon 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0Canada 52 4 39 47 29 34 38 37 36 32 33Chad 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0Chile 4 5 6 6 4 4 5 4 3 3 4China 18 13 7 5 2 1 1 2 1 1 2Columbia 2 2 2 2 3 3 2 2 1 1 0Costa Rica 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1Croatia 74 68 71 48 44 35 33 38 25 22 25Cuba 1 2 3 2 1 1 2 2 1 0 0Cyprus 9 8 10 9 9 8 7 9 8 8 8Czech Rep. 73 83 49 58 45 37 51 60 44 45 70Denmark 305 314 303 327 241 284 275 249 273 266 256Dominican Rep. 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 0Ecuador 2 2 3 3 1 0 1 1 0 0 0Egypt 31 29 29 27 19 23 23 20 11 12 12Estonia 22 27 30 19 19 17 17 8 7 6 5Finland 113 108 136 125 91 111 102 96 93 100 95France 175 161 191 174 163 216 229 205 217 218 222Georgia 16 13 7 13 7 5 3 2 2 1 1Germany 539 526 559 515 440 488 435 416 363 350 315Greece 152 153 150 156 141 138 145 138 126 125 131Guatemala 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0Honduras 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0Hong Kong 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0Hungary 81 102 90 85 63 95 62 63 58 56 48Iceland 1 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0India 34 16 19 14 11 14 14 9 8 9 6Indonesia 2 3 4 1 5 3 1 1 1 1 1Iraq 1 2 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0Iran 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 0Ireland 30 31 30 24 16 18 20 23 29 34 38Israel 79 149 55 65 44 50 46 55 48 35 40Italy 269 297 284 334 274 311 373 451 422 454 427Jamaica 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Japan 178 165 173 162 136 141 112 86 76 62 52Jordan 1 1 6 6 1 3 0 0 0 0 0Kazakhstan (CIS) 4 2 0 3 3 0 0 2 3 3 1Kenya 2 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0Kirsigistan 2 2 0 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0Korea 24 14 11 7 5 6 6 5 6 6 3Kuwait 3 3 3 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 4Latvia 13 9 11 9 4 7 6 5 1 1 0Lebanon 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1Libya 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Lithuania 22 20 22 25 21 14 12 12 10 9 9Luxemburg 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 2Macao 0 0 – 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0FYRoMacedonia 73 30 11 16 16 9 12 11 7 2 0Malaysia 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0Malta 1 1 1 1 1 4 3 3 4 0 0Mauritius 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0Mexico 19 12 8 7 4 3 4 4 3 3 3Moldavia 3 2 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0Mongolia 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Morocco 2 3 5 5 5 5 1 2 2 2 3New Zealand 16 15 15 13 10 11 9 8 10 10 11Norway 67 81 81 76 59 77 102 70 105 76 68Oman 1 2 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 1 1Pakistan 3 3 9 9 4 6 6 5 3 2 2Panama 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0Pap.New Guinea 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Paraguay 2 2 3 5 4 3 2 2 1 1 1

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Table 3. (continued)

2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991

Peru 2 1 1 1 0 1 2 2 0 1 1Philippines 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2Poland 153 157 146 88 79 93 93 105 80 63 56Polynesia France 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Portugal 75 78 83 85 68 103 97 97 105 55 57Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0Qatar 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0Reunion 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0Romania 130 114 94 68 55 54 48 51 44 38 59Russia 87 86 82 84 61 49 56 52 37 35 30Saudi Arabia 3 4 9 10 6 12 8 14 17 19 9Senegal 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Singapore 7 3 6 4 3 3 4 4 3 3 4Slovakia 46 40 31 37 23 32 32 27 20 0 0Slovenia 42 46 53 54 40 40 30 30 21 13 7South Africa 17 19 25 17 16 22 14 26 27 35 27Spain 234 224 240 374 174 226 199 172 162 152 131Sri Lanka 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1Sudan 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1Sweden 301 279 295 334 250 342 353 250 310 337 270Switzerland 84 98 94 91 79 83 75 79 86 85 104Syria 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0Tahiti 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0Taiwan 13 7 10 10 8 11 10 10 12 8 7Tanzania 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 0Tatarstan (CIS) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0Thailand 37 33 17 9 4 4 4 4 4 4 3The Netherlands 219 204 222 244 170 212 232 245 213 180 151Tonga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0Tunisia 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1Turkey 36 52 49 45 42 46 38 42 32 21 13Ukraine (CIS) 44 54 62 45 26 27 34 29 16 14 10United A Emirates 0 1 1 1 – 2 1 2 3 1 2United Kingdom 588 451 484 515 404 461 430 390 404 396 495USA 301 301 276 301 263 276 264 239 232 209 199Uruguay 1 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0Uzbekistan (CIS) 8 6 4 5 4 4 1 1 1 1 1Venezuela 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0Yugoslavia 47 42 40 36 36 31 35 32 0 15 18Zimbabwe 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

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Table 4. Figures for membership at the end of 2001 compared to previous years:

2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 5454 5308 5303 5379 4164 4854 4650 4406 4244 4000 3847 3645 3317 2918 2317

Agenda for the 39th General Assembly of the European Association for the Study of Diabetesto be held in Paris, France, 28 August 2003 at 17:30

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1. Minutes of the 38th General Assembly, Budapest, Hungary

2. Reports

a) President Dr. P. A. Halbanb) Honorary Treasurer Dr. H. Kolbc) Honorary Auditors Dr. A. Scheen

Dr. G. Spinasd) Honorary Secretary Dr. A. J. M. Boultone) Editor-in-Chief, Diabetologia Dr. W. Waldhäusl

3. Elections

a) Vice-President 2003-–2006 in place ofDr. A. de Leiva (E)

b) President 2004–2007 in place ofDr. P.A. Halban (CH)

c) Council Members 2004–2007 in place of Dr. U. Di Mario (I)Dr. N. D. Hancu (RO)Dr. J. A. Maassen (NL)Dr. E. Standl (D)

4. Study Groups EASD Health Economics and Diabetes Care Study Group

5. Honorary Membership Sir George Alberti (UK)Dr. P. Lefèbvre (B)

6. Any other business

Report on an EFSD/MSD Travel Fellowship for Young Scientists 2002

Alexandra Buckley, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, The University of Sydney, Australia

for Cambridge. This work has been written up as anoriginal paper and has been submitted for publication.

Lipid metabolism and insulin signalling in the offspring of fat-fed dams

Background and AimsExposure to a suboptimal intrauterine environmentmay play an important role in predisposing the devel-oping fetus to metabolic diseases in adult life. It isnow widely recognised that maternal nutritionthroughout gestation can influence the programmingof the offspring’s metabolism. Animal studies investi-gating the link between early programming and adultmetabolic disease have mainly concentrated on the ef-fects of maternal undernutrition such as calorie re-striction and protein restriction. In today’s westernworld, overnutrition, such as excess fat consumption,is more likely to be a major issue. There is little dis-pute regarding the deleterious effects of a high fat diet– it has been previously associated with the increasingprevalence of cardiovascular disease, insulin resis-tance and Type 2 diabetes. An area of research thattherefore requires more detailed attention is maternalhigh fat feeding and the negative impact this has onthe overall health and well-being of the offspring.

This study was designed to investigate the hypothe-sis that the consumption of a high fat diet, prior to andthroughout the gestation period, modifies the pro-gramming of the offspring’s metabolic processes. Thisstudy aimed to investigate the carbohydrate tolerance,lipid metabolism and the insulin signalling pathway ofthe offspring of high-fat fed dams.

Study DesignSixteen Australian Albino Wistar (AAW) virgin fe-male and male rats were consistently fed either a stan-dard laboratory chow diet (CON) or a high fat (59%fat) diet (FAT). After 4 weeks of feeding, oral glucosetolerance tests (OGTT) (3g glucose/kg body weight)were performed and breeding pairs established. The

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Being awarded an EFSD/MSD Travel Fellowship forYoung Scientists enabled me to visit Professor NickHales’ laboratory in the Department of Clinical Bio-chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK. During mystay I conducted experiments under the supervision ofDr Susan Ozanne, with the assistance of her expert re-search staff. These experiments were imperative to thecompletion of my PhD research. Throughout thecourse of my PhD I have developed animal models ofinsulin resistance, that suggest early life programmingof metabolic dysfunction, conceivably due to receptoror post-receptor defects in the skeletal muscle and liv-er insulin signalling pathway. Under the guidance ofDr Ozanne I have been able to precisely define specif-ic alterations in the insulin signalling pathway in mymodel of programmed insulin resistance. The follow-ing is a short report on the project that I worked onduring my stay. The experiments that I conducted inProfessor Hales’ and Dr Ozanne’s laboratory for thisproject were the Western blotting experiments in orderto determine the expression levels of key proteins in-volved in the insulin signalling pathway. All animalwork and other mentioned experiments were conduct-ed at the University of Sydney prior to my departure

diets were continued in the females throughout thegestation period; however all mothers were fed stan-dard laboratory chow during the lactation period.

Male offspring (15 FAT, 16 CON) were weaned at21 days of age and were fed standard laboratory chowfor the duration of the experiment. At 3 months of agethe offspring underwent an OGTT. 3 days after theOGTT the offspring were killed and the quadricepsmuscles and liver were removed for the subsequentassessment of β-hydroxacyl Coenzyme A dehydroge-nase (β-HAD) activity (a measure of fatty acid oxida-tion capacity), triglyceride content and the expressionlevels of key proteins involved in the insulin signal-ling pathway.

ResultsImmediately prior to breeding, all female rats dis-played normal glucose tolerance. However, fasted fat-fed females were significantly hyperinsulinaemiccompared to their chow-fed counterparts. 15 minutesinto the OGTT the fat-fed females significantly hyper-secreted insulin in response to the glucose load. At theend of the OGTT, the fat-fed females were still morehyperinsulinaemic than the chow-fed females.

At 3 months of age, all offspring displayed normalglucose tolerance. The FAT offspring, although notshowing fasting hyperinsulinaemia, did secrete, in asimilar manner to their mothers, significantly more in-sulin following the oral glucose challenge. Despitethis hypersecretion, the FAT offspring had similarplasma insulin levels to the CON offspring by the endof the OGTT.

There was no difference observed in the quadricepsmuscle triglyceride content or in the oxidative capaci-ty of the muscle, as reflected by β-HAD activity. Thetriglyceride content of the liver was significantly ele-vated in the FAT offspring with no apparent differencein the oxidative capacity.

The expression of the β subunit of the insulin re-ceptor and the p85 subunit of PI3-kinase were signifi-cantly elevated in the quadriceps muscle of the FAToffspring. Quadriceps muscle GLUT4 expression alsotended to be increased in these offspring. In contrast,the liver of the FAT offspring was shown to have sig-

nificantly reduced expression of the β subunit of theinsulin receptor and IRS1, whereas the expression ofPKCζ was significantly increased. Expression levelsof other key proteins involved in the insulin signallingpathway remained unaltered in both the quadricepsmuscle and liver of the 3 month old FAT offspringwhen compared to their control counterparts.

ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that a maternal high fat diet,prior to and throughout gestation, does evoke detri-mental effects on the metabolic processes that are evi-dent in the young adult life of the offspring. It doesappear that the FAT offspring have been programmedto have a substantially increased insulin sensitive phe-notype within the quadriceps muscle that may be, ineffect, a programmed compensation for the hepatic in-sulin resistance phenotype that is observed in the FAToffspring at 3 months of age. This overcompensationby the quadriceps muscle could enable these offspringto remain tolerant to carbohydrate challenges whileyoung.

The association between early programming andadult metabolic disease has proved a critical role formaternal nutrition during pregnancy. Maternal high fatfeeding is one such insult that is of extreme impor-tance. The results of this study strongly support thenotion of abnormal early programming predisposingthe offspring to metabolic disease; however the mech-anistic basis of this programming remains incomplete-ly explained. Further investigations are warranted inorder to elucidate these mechanisms as well as estab-lishing the long-term impact of this maternal diet onthe offspring.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank DrOzanne and Professor Hales for welcoming me intotheir laboratory to conduct this work. I would also liketo thank all members of the Ozanne/Hales laboratory.Lastly I would like to thank the EFSD and MSD forawarding me this Travel Fellowship. This wonderfulexperience has enabled me to develop as a scientistand the knowledge I gained will no doubt benefit meas I embark upon my career as an international scien-tific researcher.

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Report on an EFSD/MSD Travel Fellowship for Young Scientists 2002

Tarvo Rajasalu, Department of Immunology, University of Tartu, Estonia

Being awarded with the EFSD/MSD Fellowship forYoung Scientists last year I was able to practice in thefield of T cell research in Type 1 diabetes (T1D) in theDivision of Endocrinology and Diabetes of the Uni-versity of Ulm, Germany − a centre which has beenactively involved in studies on T cell immunity inT1D and in the standardization of T cell assays on thebasis of international scientific collaboration.

The characterization of the events leading to β-celldestruction in human T1D is still a difficult task, sincethe only available source of T lymphocytes is the pe-ripheral blood where the number of disease specific Tcells is estimated to be as low as 1 in 105−106 T cells.However, with novel T cell assays (MHC-tetramerstaining, ELISPOT and flow cytometric analysis) thecharacterization of autoantigen (autoAg) specific Tcells has now become feasible.

In the Department of Immunology of the Universi-ty of Tartu we have been collecting the peripheralblood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from new-onsetType 1 diabetics since autumn 2001. Currently, over130 samples are in our hands, including samples fromchildren and young adults as well as from the patientswith LADA type diabetes.

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A selection of these samples has now been studiedat Ulm University. The methods for characterizationof disease-specific T cells involved flow cytometricanalysis and the ELISPOT assay. In both of them, theT cell response against preproinsulin (PPI) − the onlyknown β-cell specific autoAg in T1D − was studied.Instead of the whole molecule a peptide library of PPIpeptides overlapping in 10 amino acids (aa) − as-sumed to bind directly to MHC II molecules on anti-gen presenting cells (APCs) and to stimulate the CD4+

T helper cells − was used.In the first phase of experiments attempts were

made to estimate the proinsulin (PI) specific T cellresponse by flow cytometric analysis of activatedCD4+ CD45RO+ T cells. The pooled peptides fromthe regions between B-chain (aa 6) and C-peptide (aa9) and between C-peptide (aa 18) and A-chain (aa21) of PI were used for stimulation. These regions ofPI have been shown to be predominantly recognizedby T cells of patients with T1D by previous studiesin Ulm and by others. Although the efforts weremade to find out the most suitable culture conditionsin terms of timing, addition of costimulatory mole-cules etc., overall responses remained low with stim-ulation index < 3.

In addition, T cell response was determined byIFNγ ELISPOT analysis. The preliminary results sug-gest that the most frequently recognized region of PPImay localize between the signal sequence (aa 1) andB-chain (aa 8) in our patients. This could also partlyexplain the failure of previous flow cytometric analy-sis of autoreactive T cells since the aforementioned re-gion was not subjected to screening.

The scientific work in Ulm has been very interest-ing and useful and I appreciate very much the goodadvice and the kind support of my supervisor Prof.Dr. B. O. Böhm and of all of my colleagues in Ulm.Due to additional support from the University of Ulmmy work in Ulm could be extended to a 5-month peri-od.

Back in Tartu, I used my valuable experiences forintroducing T cell stimulation techniques in our labo-ratory in Tartu. We like to continue the attempts to

evaluate the autoAg specific T cells by flow cytomet-ric analysis which will allow a more detailed charac-terization of the cell phenotype as compared with ELI-SPOT. This work will be performed by my colleaguesin Tartu, Dr. Kai Kisand and Anu Kaldmaa.

Since 1 April, 2003, I have been proceeding withmy scientific work in Ulm having been granted with apost-doctoral fellowship for another 2 years term.During this time I will extend my experiences in thefield of experimental T cell immunology in novel

mouse models of T1D in the group of Prof. Dr. B. O.Böhm and PD Dr. W. Karges. Again, we are planningto transfer new technologies to the lab at Tartu Uni-versity.

Finally, I would like to express my deepest grati-tude to the EFSD for providing me with the generoussupport which made possible my stay in Ulm andopened new perspectives for my personal scientificactivity as well as for collaboration between our twocentres.

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