Physiol. Genomics 32: 360-369, 2008.
First published November 27, 2007; doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00219.2007
1094-8341/08 $8.00
Received 18 September 2007;
accepted in final form 22 November 2007.
Physiological Genomics 32:360-369 (2008)
1094-8341/08 $8.00 © 2008 American Physiological Society
Short-term high fat-feeding results in morphological and metabolic adaptations in the skeletal muscle of C57BL/6J mice
Janneke de Wilde1,2,
Ronny Mohren1,2,
Sjoerd van den Berg1,3,
Mark Boekschoten1,4,
Ko Willems-Van Dijk1,3,
Philip de Groot1,4,
Michael Müller1,4,
Edwin Mariman1,2 and
Egbert Smit1,2
1 Nutrigenomics Consortium, Top Institute Food and Nutrition, Wageningen
2 Nutrition and Toxicology Research Institute Maastricht (NUTRIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht
3 Department of Endocrinology and Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden
4 Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands
The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) is rapidly increasing all over the world. Consequently, there is an urgent need for more effective intervention strategies. Both animal and human studies indicate that lipid oversupply to skeletal muscle can result in insulin resistance, which is one of the characteristics of the MS. C57BL/6J mice were fed a low-fat (10 kcal%) palm oil diet or a high-fat (45 kcal%; HF) palm oil diet for 3 or 28 days. By combining transcriptomics with protein and lipid analyses we aimed to better understand the molecular events underlying the early onset of the MS. Short-term HF feeding led to altered expression levels of genes involved in a variety of biological processes including morphogenesis, energy metabolism, lipogenesis, and immune function. Protein analysis showed increased levels of the myosin heavy chain, slow fiber type protein, and the complexes I, II, III, IV, and V of the oxidative phosphorylation. Furthermore, we observed that the main mitochondrial membrane phospholipids, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine, contained more saturated fatty acids. Altogether, these results point to a morphological as well as a metabolic adaptation by promoting a more oxidative fiber type. We hypothesize that after this early positive adaptation, a continued transcriptional downregulation of genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation will result in decreased oxidative capacity at a later stage. Together with increased saturation of phospholipids of the mitochondrial membrane this can result in decreased mitochondrial function, which is a hallmark observed in insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.
early onset of the metabolic syndrome; transcriptomics; nutrigenomics; muscular adaptation; fiber type conversion
Copyright © 2008 by the American Physiological Society.