Elizabeth Parks conducts research in the area of metabolism. Lecture topics include the regulation of body weight and effects of dietary macronutrients on blood lipid levels. Through studies of both transgenic mice and humans her research is focused on understanding liver function and the many factors that alter it, including low-fat diets, alcohol, and the diseases of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Using stable isotopes and gas chromatograph/mass spectroscopy, her lab provided the first definitive evidence that dietary fat can contribute to fatty liver in obese humans. Dr. Parks’ current research studies are investigating how the brain, intestine, and liver may communicate through the taste of fat to maintain energy balance and how the dysregulation of lipid metabolism in obesity leads to body fat gain.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
De novo synthesis of fatty acids
Triglyceride metabolism
Obesity and fatty liver
Cholesterol synthesis
Liver and intestinal physiology
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Barrows BR, Timlin MT, Parks EJ., "Spillover of dietary fatty acids and use of plasma NEFA for the synthesis of VLDR-TAG under two different feeding regimens - a companion paper to the paper of Timlin et al." Diabetes, 54(9):2668-2673, 2005
Donnelly KL, Smith CI, Schwarzenberg SJ, Jessurun J, Boldt MD, Parks EJ., "Sources of fatty acids contributing to hepatic steatosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease" J Clin Invest, 115(5):1343-1351, 2005
Barrows BR, Parks EJ, "Contributions of different fatty acid sources to very low-density lipoprotein-triacylglycerol in the fasted and fed states." J Clin Endocrinol Metab., 2006 Apr, 91:1446-1452, January 2006
Parks EJ, Hellerstein MK, "Recent advances in liver triacylglycerol and fatty acid metabolism using stable isotope labeling techniques." J Lipid Res, 2006 Jun 1:47:1651-1660, June 2006
SIGNIFICANT PUBLICATIONS
Parks EJ, Dare D, Frazier K, Hellerstein MK, Neese RA, Hughes E,Traber MG., "Dependence of plasma a-tocopherol flux on very low-density lipoprotein triglyceride clearance in humans" Free Rad Biol and Med, 29(11):1151-1159, 2000
Parks EJ, Hellerstein MK., "Carbohydrate-induced hypertriaclglycerolemia: historical perspective and review of biological mechanisms." Amer J Clin Nutr, 71:412-33, 2000
Parks EJ, Krauss RM, Christiansen MP, Neese RA, Hellerstein MK., "Effects of a low-fat diet on VLDL-triglyceride assembly, production and clearance." J Clin Invest, 104(8):1087-1096, 1999
Parks EJ, German JB, Davids PA, Frankel EN, Kappagoda CT, Rutledge JC, Hyson DA, Schneeman BO., "Reduced susceptibility of LDL from patients participating in an intensive atherosclerosis treatment program." Amer J Clin Nutr, 68(4):778-785, 1998
Frankel EN, Kanner J, German JB, Parks E, Kinsella JE., "Inhibition of oxidation of human-low-density lipoprotein by phenolic substances in red wine." Lancet, 341:454-457, 1993
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