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Liver X receptors limit cellular lipid uptake by stimulating the transcription of Inducible Degrader of the LDL Receptor (IDOL), an E3 ubiquitin ligase that targets lipoprotein receptors for degradation. The function of IDOL in systemic metabolism is incompletely understood. Here we show that loss of IDOL in mice protects against the development of diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysfunction by altering food intake and thermogenesis. Unexpectedly, analysis of tissue-specific knockout mice revealed that IDOL affects energy balance, not through its actions in peripheral metabolic tissues (liver, adipose, endothelium, intestine, skeletal muscle), but by controlling lipoprotein receptor abundance in neurons. Single-cell RNA sequencing of the hypothalamus demonstrated that IDOL deletion altered gene expression linked to control of metabolism. Finally, we identify VLDLR rather than LDLR as the primary mediator of IDOL effects on energy balance. These studies identify a role for the neuronal IDOL-VLDLR pathway in metabolic homeostasis and diet-induced obesity.

Aim. Models combining diabetes and atherosclerosis are important in evaluating the cardiovascular (CV) effects and safety of antidiabetes drugs in the development of treatments targeting CV complications. Our aim was to evaluate if crossing the heterozygous glucokinase knockout mouse (GK+/−) and hyperlipidemic mouse deficient in apolipoprotein E (ApoE−/−) will generate a disease model exhibiting a diabetic and macrovascular phenotype.Methods. The effects of defective glucokinase on the glucose metabolism and on the progression and regression of atherosclerosis on high-fat diets were studied in both genders of GK+/−ApoE−/−and ApoE−/−mice. Coronary vascular function of the female GK+/−ApoE−/−and ApoE−/−mice was also investigated.Results. GK+/−ApoE−/−mice show a stable hyperglycemia which was increased on Western diet. In oral glucose tolerance test, GK+/−ApoE−/−mice showed significant glucose intolerance and impaired glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Plasma lipids were comparable with ApoE−/−mice; nevertheless the GK+/−ApoE−/−mice showed slightly increased atherosclerosis development.Conclusions. The GK+/−ApoE−/−mice showed a stable and reproducible hyperglycemia, accelerated atherosclerotic lesion progression, and no lesion regression after lipid lowering. This novel model provides a promising tool for drug discovery, enabling the evaluation of compound effects against both diabetic and cardiovascular endpoints simultaneously in one animal model.

Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) is involved in triacylglycerol (TAG) and phospholipid synthesis, catalyzing the first committed step. In order to further investigate the in vivo importance of the dominating mitochondrial variant, GPAT1, a novel GPAT1(-/-) mouse model was generated and studied. Female GPAT1(-/-) mice had reduced body weight-gain and adiposity when fed chow diet compared with littermate wild-type controls. Furthermore, GPAT1(-/-) females on chow diet showed decreased liver TAG content, plasma cholesterol and TAG levels and increased ex vivo liver fatty acid oxidation and plasma ketone bodies. However, these beneficial effects were abolished and the glucose tolerance tended to be impaired when GPAT1(-/-) females were fed a long-term high-fat diet (HFD). GPAT1-deficiency was not associated with altered whole body energy expenditure or respiratory exchange ratio. In addition, there were no changes in male GPAT1(-/-) mice fed either diet except for increased plasma ketone bodies on chow diet, indicating a gender-specific phenotype. Thus, GPAT1-deficiency does not protect against HFD-induced obesity, hepatic steatosis or whole body glucose intolerance.

The adipocyte-derived hormone adiponectin regulates glucose and lipid metabolism and influences the risk for developing obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Adiponectin binds to two different seven-transmembrane domain receptors termed AdipoR1 and AdipoR2. To study the physiological importance of these receptors, AdipoR1 gene knockout mice ( AdipoR1 −/− ) and AdipoR2 gene knockout mice ( AdipoR2 −/− ) were generated. AdipoR1 −/− mice showed increased adiposity associated with decreased glucose tolerance, spontaneous locomotor activity, and energy expenditure. However, AdipoR2 −/− mice were lean and resistant to high-fat diet–induced obesity associated with improved glucose tolerance and higher spontaneous locomotor activity and energy expenditure and reduced plasma cholesterol levels. Thus, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 are clearly involved in energy metabolism but have opposing effects.

Tissue distribution and pharmacokinetics (PK) of full-length nontargeted antibody and its antigen-binding fragment (FAb) were evaluated for a range of tissues primarily of interest for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Mice were intravenously injected with a dose of 10 mg/kg of either human IgGlor its FAb fragment; perfused tissues were collected at a range of time points over 3 weeks for the human IgG1 antibody and 1 week for the human FAb antibody. Tissues were homogenized and antibody concentrations were measured by specific immunoassays on the Gyros system. Exposure in terms of maximum concentration ( C max ) and area under the curve was assessed for all nine tissues. Tissue exposure of full-length antibody relative to plasma exposure was found to be between 1% and 10%, except for brain (0.2%). Relative concentrations of FAb antibody were the same, except for kidney tissue, where the antibody concentration was found to be ten times higher than in plasma. However, the absolute tissue uptake of full-length IgG was significantly higher than the absolute tissue uptake of the FAb antibody. This study provides a reference PK state for full-length whole and FAb antibodies in tissues related to cardiovascular and metabolic diseases that do not include antigen or antibody binding.

Adiponectin has been shown to have beneficial cardiovascular effects and to signal through the adiponectin receptors, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2. The original aim of this study was to investigate the effect of combined AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 deficiency (AdipoR1(-/-)AdipoR2(-/-)) on atherosclerosis. However, we made the interesting observation that AdipoR1(-/-) AdipoR2(-/-) leads to embryonic lethality demonstrating the critical importance of the adiponectin signalling system during development. We then investigated the effect of AdipoR2-ablation on the progression of atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E deficient (ApoE(-/-)) mice. AdipoR2(-/-)ApoE(-/-) mice fed an atherogenic diet had decreased plaque area in the brachiocephalic artery compared with AdipoR2(+/+) ApoE(-/-) littermate controls as visualized in vivo using an ultrasound biomicroscope and confirmed by histological analyses. The decreased plaque area in the brachiocephalic artery could not be explained by plasma cholesterol levels or inflammatory status. However, accumulation of neutral lipids was decreased in peritoneal macrophages from AdipoR2(-/-)ApoE(-/-) mice after incubation with oxidized LDL. This effect was associated with lower CD36 and higher ABCA1 mRNA levels in peritoneal macrophages from AdipoR2(-/-)ApoE(-/-) mice compared with AdipoR2(+/+)ApoE(-/-) controls after incubation with oxidized LDL. In summary, we show that adiponectin receptors are crucial during embryonic development and that AdipoR2-deficiency slows down the progression of atherosclerosis in the brachiocephalic artery of ApoE-deficient mice.

Adipose differentiation-related protein (ADRP) is a lipid droplet-associated protein that is expressed in various tissues. In mice treated with the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) agonist Wy14,643 (Wy), hepatic mRNA and protein levels of ADRP as well as hepatic triglyceride content increased. Also in primary mouse hepatocytes, Wy increased ADRP expression and intracellular triglyceride mass. The triglyceride mass increased in spite of unchanged triglyceride biosynthesis and increased palmitic acid oxidation. However, Wy incubation decreased the secretion of newly synthesized triglycerides, whereas apolipoprotein B secretion increased. Thus, decreased availability of triglycerides for VLDL assembly could help to explain the cellular accumulation of triglycerides after Wy treatment. We hypothesized that this effect could be mediated by increased ADRP expression. Similar to PPARalpha activation, adenovirus-mediated ADRP overexpression in mouse hepatocytes enhanced cellular triglyceride mass and decreased the secretion of newly synthesized triglycerides. In ADRP-overexpressing cells, Wy incubation resulted in a further decrease in triglyceride secretion. This effect of Wy was not attributable to decreased cellular triglycerides after increased fatty acid oxidation because the triglyceride mass in Wy-treated ADRP-overexpressing cells was unchanged. In summary, PPARalpha activation prevents the availability of triglycerides for VLDL assembly and increases hepatic triglyceride content in part by increasing the expression of ADRP.

We have generated a novel monoclonal antibody targeting human FGFR1c (R1c mAb) that caused profound body weight and body fat loss in diet-induced obese mice due to decreased food intake (with energy expenditure unaltered), in turn improving glucose control. R1c mAb also caused weight loss in leptin-deficient ob/ob mice, leptin receptor-mutant db/db mice, and in mice lacking either the melanocortin 4 receptor or the melanin-concentrating hormone receptor 1. In addition, R1c mAb did not change hypothalamic mRNA expression levels of Agrp, Cart, Pomc, Npy, Crh, Mch, or Orexin, suggesting that R1c mAb could cause food intake inhibition and body weight loss via other mechanisms in the brain. Interestingly, peripherally administered R1c mAb accumulated in the median eminence, adjacent arcuate nucleus and in the circumventricular organs where it activated the early response gene c-Fos. As a plausible mechanism and coinciding with the initiation of food intake suppression, R1c mAb induced hypothalamic expression levels of the cytokines Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 and 3 and ERK1/2 and p70 S6 kinase 1 activation.