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Gebreyesus LH, Choi S, Neequaye P, Mahmoud M, Mahmoud M, Ofosu-Boateng M, Twum E, Nnamani DO, Wang L, Yadak N, Ghosh S, Gonzalez FJ, Gyamfi MA. Pregnane X receptor knockout mitigates weight gain and hepatic metabolic dysregulation in female C57BL/6 J mice on a long-term high-fat diet. Biomed Pharmacother 2024; 173:116341. [PMID: 38428309 PMCID: PMC10983615 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2024.116341] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2023] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Obesity is a significant risk factor for several chronic diseases. However, pre-menopausal females are protected against high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity and its adverse effects. The pregnane X receptor (PXR, NR1I2), a xenobiotic-sensing nuclear receptor, promotes short-term obesity-associated liver disease only in male mice but not in females. Therefore, the current study investigated the metabolic and pathophysiological effects of a long-term 52-week HFD in female wild-type (WT) and PXR-KO mice and characterized the PXR-dependent molecular pathways involved. After 52 weeks of HFD ingestion, the body and liver weights and several markers of hepatotoxicity were significantly higher in WT mice than in their PXR-KO counterparts. The HFD-induced liver injury in WT female mice was also associated with upregulation of the hepatic mRNA levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (Pparg), its target genes, fat-specific protein 27 (Fsp27), and the liver-specific Fsp27b involved in lipid accumulation, apoptosis, and inflammation. Notably, PXR-KO mice displayed elevated hepatic Cyp2a5 (anti-obesity gene), aldo-keto reductase 1b7 (Akr1b7), glutathione-S-transferase M3 (Gstm3) (antioxidant gene), and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) levels, contributing to protection against long-term HFD-induced obesity and inflammation. RNA sequencing analysis revealed a general blunting of the transcriptomic response to HFD in PXR-KO compared to WT mice. Pathway enrichment analysis demonstrated enrichment by HFD for several pathways, including oxidative stress and redox pathway, cholesterol biosynthesis, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis in WT but not PXR-KO mice. In conclusion, this study provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms by which PXR deficiency protects against long-term HFD-induced severe obesity and its adverse effects in female mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lidya H Gebreyesus
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 881 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
| | - Sora Choi
- Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA
| | - Prince Neequaye
- Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA
| | - Mattia Mahmoud
- Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA
| | - Mia Mahmoud
- Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA
| | - Malvin Ofosu-Boateng
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 881 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
| | - Elizabeth Twum
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 881 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
| | - Daniel O Nnamani
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 881 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
| | - Lijin Wang
- Center for Computational Biology, Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Road, Singapore
| | - Nour Yadak
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
| | - Sujoy Ghosh
- Center for Computational Biology, Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Road, Singapore; Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Core, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA
| | - Frank J Gonzalez
- Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Building 37, Room 3106, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Maxwell A Gyamfi
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 881 Madison Avenue, Memphis, TN 38163, USA; Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute, North Carolina Central University, Durham, NC 27707, USA.
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Ofosu-Boateng M, Shaik F, Choi S, Ekuban FA, Gebreyesus LH, Twum E, Nnamani DO, Yeyeodu ST, Yadak N, Collier DM, Gyamfi MA. High-fat diet induced obesity promotes inflammation, oxidative stress, and hepatotoxicity in female FVB/N mice. Biofactors 2024. [PMID: 38183321 DOI: 10.1002/biof.2028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/04/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024]
Abstract
Although obesity and subsequent liver injury are increasingly prevalent in women, female mouse models have generally shown resistance to high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity. We evaluated control and HFD-fed male and female FVB/N mice, a strain well-suited to transgenic analyses, for phenotypic, histological, and molecular markers related to control of glucose, lipids, and inflammation in serum, liver, and perigonadal white adipose tissues. Unlike many mouse models, HFD-fed FVB/N females gained more perigonadal and mesenteric fat mass and overall body weight than their male counterparts, with increased hepatic expression of lipogenic PPARγ target genes (Cd36, Fsp27, and Fsp27β), oxidative stress genes and protein (Nqo1 and CYP2E1), inflammatory gene (Mip-2), and the pro-fibrotic gene Pai-1, along with increases in malondialdehyde and serum ALT levels. Further, inherent to females (independently of HFD), hepatic antioxidant heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1, HO-1) protein levels were reduced compared to their male counterparts. In contrast, males may have been relatively protected from HFD-induced oxidative stress and liver injury by elevated mRNA and protein levels of hepatic antioxidants BHMT and Gpx2, increased fatty acid oxidation genes in liver and adipocytes (Pparδ), despite disorganized and inflamed adipocytes. Thus, female FVB/N mice offer a valuable preclinical, genetically malleable model that recapitulates many of the features of diet-induced obesity and liver damage observed in human females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malvin Ofosu-Boateng
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Fathima Shaik
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Sora Choi
- Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute, North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Frederick A Ekuban
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Lidya H Gebreyesus
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Elizabeth Twum
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Daniel O Nnamani
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Susan T Yeyeodu
- Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute, North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
- Charles River Discovery Services, Durham, North Carolina, USA
| | - Nour Yadak
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Daniel M Collier
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
| | - Maxwell A Gyamfi
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute, North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
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