Advanced oxidation protein products inhibit differentiation and activate inflammation in 3T3‐L1 preadipocytes

Accumulation of advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs) is prevalent in metabolic syndromes, a condition with impaired preadipocytes differentiation. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that AOPPs disturb preadipocyte differentiation. Exposure of 3T3‐L1 preadipocytes to increased levels of AOPPs inhibited accumulation of intracellular triglyceride and decreased the expression of the essential markers of matured adipocytes, such as adipocyte fatty‐acid‐binding protein (aP2), CAAT/enhancer‐binding protein (C/EBP)‐α, and peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor (PPAR)‐γ, in response to standard adipogenic induction. Inhibitory effects of AOPPs on preadipocytes differentiation was time sensitive, which occurred at the early stage of differentiation. In the presence of AOPPs, induction of preadipocytes differentiation resulted in upregulated expression of C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) and CUG‐Triplet repeat‐binding protein (CUGBP), two important inhibitors of preadipocytes differentiation. In addition, treatment with AOPPs increased abundance of C/EBP‐β‐liver enriched inhibitory protein (C/EBP‐β‐LIP), a truncated C/EBP‐β isoform without adipogenic activity. Moreover, AOPPs‐treated preadipocytes expressed a macrophage marker F4/80 and overexpressed tumor necrosis factor‐α and interleukin‐6 via nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB)‐dependent pathway. However, blocking inflammation with NF‐κB inhibitor failed to improve AOPPs‐induced inhibition of preadipocytes differentiation. These data suggest that accumulation of AOPPs may inhibit differentiation of preadipocytes and activate inflammation in these cells. This information might have implication for understanding the impairment of preadipocytes differentiation and fat inflammation seen in metabolic syndrome. J. Cell. Physiol. 225: 42–51, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.