Archive · 27 Aug 2026
IIT Hyderabad Study Reveals How Cells Control Glycerol Movement
Scientists at IIT Hyderabad studied a tiny cell channel called hAQP10.
This channel lets water and glycerol move through cell membranes.
They used computer simulations to watch these molecules pass through the channel.
They found that water moves much more easily than glycerol.
Glycerol has to turn itself around at narrow points in the channel.
The channel also changes its shape slightly to help glycerol continue moving.
Glycerol is involved in how cells handle fats.
This information may help scientists study obesity, diabetes and some skin disorders.
The study is basic research and does not provide a treatment.
Researchers at IIT Hyderabad studied human aquaporin-10, or hAQP10, a membrane protein that transports water and glycerol.
Computer simulations showed glycerol moves more slowly than water through the microscopic channel.
Glycerol must reorient itself at narrow molecular checkpoints while the channel makes small structural adjustments.
Water faces about four times lower energetic resistance than glycerol inside the channel.
Published in PNAS, the basic-science study may help research obesity, diabetes and some skin disorders, but does not provide a treatment.
- Who
- Researchers at IIT Hyderabad studied human aquaporin-10, including Dr Himanshu Joshi and doctoral researcher Kunal Rai.
- What
- The researchers examined how hAQP10 controls the movement of water and glycerol through cell membranes.
- When
- The article does not specify when the research was conducted; it states that the findings were published in PNAS.
- Where
- IIT Hyderabad, using computer simulations of the hAQP10 channel.
- Why
- To understand how glycerol moves through a channel involved in lipid metabolism and to support future research into obesity, diabetes and some skin disorders.
- Protein studied
- Human aquaporin-10, or hAQP10
- Molecules examined
- Water and glycerol
- Research method
- Computer simulations tracking molecular movement
- Key finding
- Glycerol moves more slowly because it interacts with narrow points inside the channel
- Energetic resistance
- Water faces about four times lower energetic resistance than glycerol
- Publication
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
- Research stage
- Basic science; no treatment was developed