Methionine enkephalin promotes white fat browning through cAMP/PKA pathway.

Aims: Obesity and its related metabolic disorders, including insulin resistance and fatty liver, have become a serious global public health problem. Previous studies have shown Methionine Enkephalin (MetEnk) has the potential on adipocyte browning, however, its effects on the potential mechanisms of its regulation in browning as well as its improvement in energy metabolic homeostasis remain to be deciphered.
Main Methods: C57BL/6J male mice were fed with high-fat diet (HFD) to induce obesity model, and MetEnk was injected subcutaneously to detect changes in the metabolic status of mice, adipocytes and HepG2 cells were also treated with MetEnk, and transcriptomic, metabolomic were used to detect the changes of lipid metabolism, mitochondrial function, inflammation and other related factors.
Key Findings: We found that MetEnk effectively protected against obesity weight gain in HFD-induced C57BL/6J mice, significantly improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, reduced the expression levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), promoted white fat browning, moreover, using a combination of transcriptomic, metabolomic and inhibitors, it was found that MetEnk improved mitochondrial function, promoted thermogenesis and lipolysis by activating cAMP/PKA pathway in adipocytes, further analysis found that MetEnk also promoted lipolysis and alleviated inflammation through AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway in mice liver and HepG2 cells.
Significance: Our study provides profound evidence for the role of MetEnk in improving lipid metabolism disorders. This study provides a mechanical foundation for investigating the potential of MetEnk to improve obesity and its associated metabolic disorders.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript entitled.
(Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)