Sex-Specific Metabolic Changes in Peripheral Organs of Diabetic Mice

Diabetes mellitus (DM) can cause systemic metabolic disorders, but the impact of gender on DM-related metabolic changes is rarely reported. Herein, we analyzed metabolic alterations in the heart, liver, and kidney of male and female mice from normal to diabetes via a ¹H NMR-based metabolomics method and aimed to investigate sex-specific metabolic mechanisms underlying the onset and development of diabetes and its complications. Our results demonstrate that male mice had more significant metabolic disorders from normal to diabetes than female mice. Moreover, the kidney was found as the major organ of metabolic disorders during the development of diabetes, followed by the liver and heart. These altered metabolites were mainly implicated in energy metabolism as well as amino acid, choline, and nucleotide metabolism. Therefore, this study suggests that the kidney is the primary organ affected by diabetes in a sex-specific manner, which provides a metabolic view on the pathogenesis of diabetic kidney diseases between genders.