Abstract:

Adipsin is one of the most abundant and specifically expressed adipose proteins and plays pivotal roles in energy homeostasis and systemic metabolism as a circulating factor linking fat cells and obesity to β cell function. To evaluate whether treatment with adipsin could prevent the metabolic abnormalities associated with diabetes and obesity, we examined the effects of overexpression of adenoviral-mediated adipsin (Ad-adipsin) in hyperlipidemic type 2 diabetic rats. Type 2 diabetic rats (n=5) were administered intravenously with Ad-adipsin. Overexpression of adipsin significantly reduced serum resistin, fasting blood glucose (FPG) levels, fasting insulin value(FINS), total serum cholest(TC), triglyceride(TG), and low density lipoprotein(LDL) on the 7th day after treatment (P<0.05). In addition, glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity were markedly increased (P<0.05). These results indicated that the treatment with Ad-adipsin improves glucose and fat metabolism in type 2 diabetic rats.

Key words: adipsin, ZDF rat, type 2 diabetes