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Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has emerged as an important mediator of fatty acid metabolism with paradoxical effects in the liver. Administration of IL-6 has been reported to confer protection against steatosis, but plasma and tissue IL-6 concentrations are elevated in chronic liver diseases, including fatty liver diseases associated with obesity and alcoholic ingestion. In this study, we further investigated the role of IL-6 on steatosis induced through a high-fat diet (HFD) in wild-type (WT) and IL-6-deficient (IL-6−/−) mice. Additionally, HFD-fed IL-6−/− mice were also chronically treated with recombinant IL-6 (rIL-6). Obesity in WT mice fed a HFD associated with elevated serum IL-6 levels, fatty liver, upregulation of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT1) and signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3), increased AMP kinase phosphorylation (p-AMPK), and downregulation of the hepatic lipogenic enzymes fatty acid synthase (FAS) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1). The HFD-fed IL-6−/− mice showed severe steatosis, no changes in CPT1 levels or AMPK activity, no increase in STAT3 amounts, inactivated STAT3, and marked downregulation of the expression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCα/β), FAS and SCD1. The IL-6 chronic replacement in HFD-fed IL-6−/− mice restored hepatic STAT3 and AMPK activation but also increased the expression of the lipogenic enzymes ACCα/β, FAS and SCD1. Furthermore, rIL-6 administration was associated with aggravated steatosis and elevated fat content in the liver. We conclude that, in the context of HFD-induced obesity, the administration of rIL-6 might contribute to the aggravation of fatty liver disease through increasing lipogenesis., Summary: The administration of rIL-6 might contribute to the aggravation of fatty liver disease through increasing lipogenesis in HFD-induced obesity.

De novo lipogenesis and hypercaloric diets are thought to contribute to increased fat mass, particularly in abdominal fat depots. CB1 is highly expressed in adipose tissue, and CB1-mediated signalling is associated with stimulation of lipogenesis and diet-induced obesity, though its contribution to increasing fat deposition in adipose tissue is controversial. Lipogenesis is regulated by transcription factors such as liver X receptor (LXR), sterol-response element binding protein (SREBP) and carbohydrate- responsive-element-binding protein (ChREBP). We evaluated the role of CB 1 in the gene expression of these factors and their target genes in relation to lipogenesis in the perirenal adipose tissue (PrAT) of rats fed a high-carbohydrate diet (HCHD) or a high-fat diet (HFD). Both obesity models showed an up-regulated gene expression of CB1 and Lxrα in this adipose pad. The Srebf-1 and ChREBP gene expressions were down-regulated in HFD but not in HCHD. The expression of their target genes encoding for lipogenic enzymes showed a decrease in diet-induced obesity and was particularly dramatic in HFD. In HCHD, CB1 blockade by AM251 reduced the Srebf-1 and ChREBP expression and totally abrogated the remnant gene expression of their target lipogenic enzymes. The phosphorylated form of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK-p), which participates in the CB1-mediated signalling pathway, was markedly present in the PrAT of obese rats. ERK-p was drastically repressed by AM251 indicating that CB1 is actually functional in PrAT of obese animals, though its activation loses the ability to stimulate lipogenesis in PrAT of obese rats. Even so, the remnant expression levels of lipogenic transcription factors found in HCHD-fed rats are still dependent on CB1 activity. Hence, in HCHD-induced obesity, CB1 blockade may help to further potentiate the reduction of lipogenesis in PrAT by means of inducing down-regulation of the ChREBP and Srebf-1 gene expression, and consequently in the expression of lipogenic enzymes.