Hyperammonemia decreases body fat content in rat

We have developed an animal model of hyperammonemia consisting of feeding rats a diet containing 20% (w/w) ammonium acetate. Ingestion of this diet markedly affects carcass composition, with a 46% reduction in lipid content. The ammonium diet alters levels of several key compounds involved in lipid metabolism. Long-chain acylcarnitine is increased in liver by approx. 60% while free carnitine and acetylcarnitine are unaffected. The hepatic content of acetyl-CoA increases by approx. 50%. The level of ketone bodies in blood increases by 32% but remains unchanged in liver. Our data indicate that hyperammonemia alters lipid metabolism and results in a significant decrease in body lipid content.     

Role and regulation of starvation-induced autophagy in the Drosophila fat body

In response to starvation, eukaryotic cells recover nutrients through autophagy, a lysosomal-mediated process of cytoplasmic degradation. Autophagy is known to be inhibited by TOR signaling, but the mechanisms of autophagy regulation and its role in TOR-mediated cell growth are unclear. Here, we show that signaling through TOR and its upstream regulators PI3K and Rheb is necessary and sufficient to suppress starvation-induced autophagy in the Drosophila fat body. In contrast, TOR's downstream effector S6K promotes rather than suppresses autophagy, suggesting S6K downregulation may limit autophagy during extended starvation. Despite the catabolic potential of autophagy, disruption of conserved components of the autophagic machinery, including ATG1 and ATG5, does not restore growth to TOR mutant cells. Instead, inhibition of autophagy enhances TOR mutant phenotypes, including reduced cell size, growth rate, and survival. Thus, in cells lacking TOR, autophagy plays a protective role that is dominant over its potential role as a growth suppressor.     

Factors affecting body size and fat content in a digger wasp

Body size is one of the most important life history traits. In mass-provisioning solitary Hymenoptera, the maximum attainable adult size is not under the control of the larva but is limited by the amount of resources provided by the mother. I investigated the effect of the amount of different maternal resources and potentially interfering abiotic (temperature) and biotic (fungus infestation) factors on offspring body size and fat reserves in a solitary digger wasp, the European beewolf, Philanthus triangulum F. (Hymenoptera, Sphecidae). Females provide different resources for their progeny that might influence progeny size (egg, brood cell, and paralysed honey-bees as food). The number of bees provisioned explained the largest proportion of variation in cocoon length. With an increasing number of bees (one to four), progeny gained less weight per bee. Relative fat content increased with size. With a given number of bees, males were smaller than females. The duration of the feeding period was independent of the number of bees in a brood cell but decreased with increasing ambient temperatures (20, 25, 30°C). Cocoon size was influenced by temperature but the effect was not uniform. Cocoons from brood cells containing two and three bees were larger at 25°C than at 20°C; those at 30°C did not differ from those at either lower temperature. However, in brood cells containing one bee, cocoon length was independent of temperature. Sublethal levels of fungus infestation may have a small negative effect on cocoon size. Different temperatures during hibernation (8 vs 13°C) did not affect the size or fat content of emerging adults. These results on a mass-provisioning hunting wasp are compared with the well-studied herbivorous insects. Received: 12 April 1999 / Accepted: 3 December 1999     

Obesity: the role of hypothalamic AMP-activated protein kinase in body weight regulation

Obesity is rapidly increasing and is of great public health concern worldwide. Although there have been remarkable developments in obesity research over the past 10 years, the molecular mechanism of obesity is still not completely understood. Body weight results from the balance between food intake and energy expenditure. Recent studies have found that hypothalamic AMP-activated protein kinase plays a key role in regulating these processes. Leptin, insulin, glucose and alpha-lipoic acid have been shown to reduce food intake by lowering hypothalamic AMP-activated protein kinase activity, whereas ghrelin and glucose depletion increase food intake by increasing hypothalamic AMP-activated protein kinase activity. In addition, this enzyme plays a role in the central regulation of energy expenditure. These findings indicate that hypothalamic AMP-activated protein kinase is an important signal molecule, which integrates nutritional and hormonal signals and modulates feeding behavior and energy expenditure.     

Impact of resistant starch on body fat patterning and central appetite regulation

Background

Adipose tissue patterning has a major influence on the risk of developing chronic disease. Environmental influences on both body fat patterning and appetite regulation are not fully understood. This study was performed to investigate the impact of resistant starch (RS) on adipose tissue deposition and central regulation of appetite in mice.

Methodology and Principle Findings

Forty mice were randomised to a diet supplemented with either the high resistant starch (HRS), or the readily digestible starch (LRS). Using ¹H magnetic resonance (MR) methods, whole body adiposity, intrahepatocellular lipids (IHCL) and intramyocellular lipids (IMCL) were measured. Manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI) was used to investigate neuronal activity in hypothalamic regions involved in appetite control when fed ad libitum. At the end of the interventional period, adipocytes were isolated from epididymal adipose tissue and fasting plasma collected for hormonal and adipokine measurement. Mice on the HRS and LRS diet had similar body weights although total body adiposity, subcutaneous and visceral fat, IHCL, plasma leptin, plasma adiponectin plasma insulin/glucose ratios was significantly greater in the latter group. Adipocytes isolated from the LRS group were significantly larger and had lower insulin-stimulated glucose uptake. MEMRI data obtained from the ventromedial and paraventricular hypothalamic nuclei suggests a satiating effect of the HRS diet despite a lower energy intake.

Conclusion and Significance

Dietary RS significantly impacts on adipose tissue patterning, adipocyte morphology and metabolism, glucose and insulin metabolism, as well as affecting appetite regulation, supported by changes in neuronal activity in hypothalamic appetite regulation centres which are suggestive of satiation.     

Dietary protein content affects evolution for body size, body fat and viability in Drosophila melanogaster

The ability to use different food sources is likely to be under strong selection if organisms are faced with natural variation in macro-nutrient (protein, carbohydrate and lipid) availabilities. Here, we use experimental evolution to study how variable dietary protein content affects adult body composition and developmental success in Drosophila melanogaster. We reared flies on either a standard diet or a protein-enriched diet for 17 generations before testing them on both diet types. Flies from lines selected on protein-rich diet produced phenotypes with higher total body mass and relative lipid content when compared with those selected on a standard diet, irrespective of which of the two diets they were tested on. However, selection on protein-rich diet incurred a cost as flies reared on this diet had markedly lower developmental success in terms of egg-to-adult viability on both medium types, suggesting a possible trade-off between the traits investigated.     

Value of the tritium test for determining the fat content in the body of rats

An indirect method for estimation of the fat percentage in the animal organism, a tritium test, was studied on laboratory male rats aged 4 and 12 months. Results obtained from the tritium test and direct chemical analysis were compared. With age a mean absolute error of the tritium test increased (from 1 to 8%) as against actual values of the water and fat percentage in the organism obtained by a direct chemical analysis. The data obtained testify to the relative insolvency of the tritium test, as well as the necessity to carry additional investigations in order to obtain adequate data.     

Genomic organization and regulation by dietary fat of the uncoupling protein 3 and 2 genes

Uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) dissipates the transmitochondrial proton gradient as heat. UCP2 and UCP3 are two recently discovered homologues that also have uncoupling activity and thus presumably have a role in energy homeostasis. We now report the genomic structure of murine UCP3 (7 exons) and UCP2 (8 exons). UCP3 is approximately 8 kilobases upstream of UCP2. An UCP3 variant mRNA, UCP3S, was also found and characterized. The effect of a high fat diet (45% versus 10%) on UCP3 and UCP2 mRNA levels was measured. Eating the 45% fat diet for eight weeks caused greater weight gain in AKR and C57BL/6J mice than in the obesity-resistant A/J mice. The high fat diet increased muscle UCP3 expression twofold in C57BL/6J animals. UCP2 expression increased slightly on the 45% fat diet in white adipose of AKR mice, but not in A/J or C57BL/6J mice. In skeletal muscle, UCP2 expression showed little variation with diet. Thus, UCP2 and UCP3 expression levels change in response to diet-induced obesity, but the changes are modest and depend on the tissue and genotype. The data suggest that it is not a reduction in UCP2 or UCP3 expression that causes obesity in the susceptible mice.     

Leptin对下丘脑LHA、VMH、PVN的RNA含量和体脂肪的影响

目的:探讨Leptin对下丘脑外测区(LHA)、腹内侧核(VMH)和室旁核(PVN)的RNA含量和脂肪沉积的影响.方法:通过小鼠注射Leptin,连续注射14d,70日龄时将动物宰杀,取LHA、VMH和PVN的组织,用荧光显微数字成像系统和Image Pro plus图像分析,测RNA.结果:Leptin引起生长期小鼠LHA和VMH的RNA含量显著增高(P＜0.01、P＜0.05),PVN的RNA含量降低,腹腔脂肪沉积显著减少(P＜0.05).结论:Leptin能引起LHA和VMH的功能加强,且两者都均与腹腔脂肪沉积呈负相关.     

The energetic regulation of ovulation: a realistic role for body fat

This review weighs the evidence for and against the hypothesis that ovulation is regulated by a critical amount of body fat. The evidence supporting this hypothesis is correlative, and most of it stems from observations made in humans. On balance, the evidence from human studies does not support the hypothesis, however, and the results of animal studies argue strongly against it. In the latter regard, a variety of experimental approaches have been tried in both adult and peripubertal females of several species, and the results almost uniformly show little relationship between fatness and ovulation. There is no doubt that ovulation can be regulated somehow in relation to whole-body energy balance and that fat stores are an important component of energy balance, but there is no reason to accord body fat a direct causal role in regulating ovulation.