Methyl-β-cyclodextrin alters adipokine gene expression and glucose metabolism in swine adipose tissue

This study was designed to determine whether methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MCD) can substitute for albumin in incubation medium for neonatal swine adipose tissue explants, or whether MCD affects metabolism and cytokine expression. Subcutaneous adipose tissue explants (100 ± 10 mg) were prepared from 21-day-old pigs. Explants were incubated in medium 199 supplemented with 25 mM HEPES, 1.0 nM insulin at 37°C. The medium also contained bovine serum albumin (BSA) or MCD at 0%, 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.2% or 0.3%. Tissue explants were treated with these media for 1 h and then switched to the same basal incubation medium containing 0.05% BSA. Explants were removed from basal medium at 2 or 8 h of incubation, and real-time PCR was performed to assess expression of tumor necrosis α (TNF) and interleukin 6 (IL6), acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACAC) and fatty acid synthase (FASN). Alternatively, rates of 14C-glucose oxidation and lipogenesis were monitored ± insulin (100 nM), following MCD treatment. Incubation with BSA had minimal effects on gene expression or adipose tissue metabolism, only producing a doubling in TNF mRNA abundance (P < 0.01). Treatment with MCD increased TNF mRNA abundance by eightfold (P < 0.009), whereas IL6 gene expression increased a 100-fold (P < 0.001) with a suppression in ACAC and FASN expression (P < 0.01). This was paralleled by MCD inhibition of insulin-stimulated glucose oxidation and lipogenesis (P < 0.001). Addition of a TNF antibody to the incubation medium alleviated this inhibition of insulin-stimulated glucose metabolism by ~30% (P < 0.05).