1. Liver-secreted RBP4 does not impair glucose homeostasis in mice
- Author
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Steffi Heidenreich, Stefan Weger, Naomi Kast, Manuela Sommerfeld, Ronja Fedders, Michael Schupp, Sarah M. Kedziora, Andrea Henze, Miriam Knauer, Jens Raila, Pamela Weber, and Matthias Muenzner
- Subjects
Blood Glucose ,0301 basic medicine ,medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Adipose tissue ,Carbohydrate metabolism ,Diet, High-Fat ,Biochemistry ,Energy homeostasis ,Mice ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Insulin resistance ,ddc:570 ,Internal medicine ,Glucose Intolerance ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Insulin ,Glucose homeostasis ,Obesity ,Vitamin A ,Molecular Biology ,Institut für Biochemie und Biologie ,Metabolic Syndrome ,business.industry ,Retinoid binding protein ,Cell Biology ,Dependovirus ,medicine.disease ,Metabolism ,030104 developmental biology ,Endocrinology ,Adipose Tissue ,Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ,Liver ,Hepatocytes ,Insulin Resistance ,Metabolic syndrome ,business ,Retinol-Binding Proteins, Plasma ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) is the major transport protein for retinol in blood. Recent evidence from genetic mouse models shows that circulating RBP4 derives exclusively from hepatocytes. Because RBP4 is elevated in obesity and associates with the development of glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, we tested whether a liver-specific overexpression of RBP4 in mice impairs glucose homeostasis. We used adeno-associated viruses (AAV) that contain a highly liver-specific promoter to drive expression of murine RBP4 in livers of adult mice. The resulting increase in serum RBP4 levels in these mice was comparable with elevated levels that were reported in obesity. Surprisingly, we found that increasing circulating RBP4 had no effect on glucose homeostasis. Also during a high-fat diet challenge, elevated levels of RBP4 in the circulation failed to aggravate the worsening of systemic parameters of glucose and energy homeostasis. These findings show that liver-secreted RBP4 does not impair glucose homeostasis. We conclude that a modest increase of its circulating levels in mice, as observed in the obese, insulin-resistant state, is unlikely to be a causative factor for impaired glucose homeostasis.
- Published
- 2018
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