Insulin induces expression of the hepatic vaspin gene

Visceral adipose tissue-derived serine protease inhibitor (vaspin), initially identified in the visceral adipose tissue, is an adipokine that improves endoplasmic reticulum stress in obesity or insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. However, the transcriptional regulation of the hepatic vaspin gene remains elusive. We have previously shown that CCAAT-enhancer-binding protein α, a transcription factor of the basic leucine zipper class, positively regulates the vaspin gene. The present study aimed to investigate the nutritional or hormonal regulators of vaspin expression in the liver. For the fasting and refeeding study, mice in the fasting group were subjected to fasting for 24 h and then sacrificed. Mice in the refeeding group were subjected to fasting for 24 h and then refed with a 50% (w/w) sucrose/MF diet for further 24 h and then sacrificed. For the streptozotocin (STZ) study, STZ (50 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally injected into C57BL/6JJc1 mice for 5 d. Hepatic vaspin was repressed due to fasting for 24 h and was induced upon refeeding with a high-sucrose diet. In studies on liver-specific C/EBPα-deficient mice, C/EBPα was not involved in the induction of hepatic vaspin upon refeeding. In addition, the depletion of insulin by streptozotocin treatment markedly decreased hepatic vaspin expression. Finally, fasting-repressed vaspin expression in the liver was significantly increased by direct injection of insulin into fasting mice. In conclusion, our results suggest that insulin is a positive regulator of hepatic vaspin expression.