Untargeted Metabolomic Characteristics of Skeletal Muscle Dysfunction in Rabbits Induced by a High Fat Diet

Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome caused by a high fat diet (HFD) have become public health problems worldwide. These diseases are characterized by the oxidation of skeletal muscle mitochondria and disruption of insulin resistance, but the mechanisms are not well understood. Therefore, this study aims to reveal how high-fat diet causes skeletal muscle metabolic disorders. In total, 16 weaned rabbits were randomly divided into two groups, one group was fed a standard normal diet (SND) and the other group was fed a high fat diet (HFD) for 5 weeks. At the end of the five-week experiment, skeletal muscle tissue samples were taken from each rabbit. Untargeted metabolomic analysis was performed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The results showed that high fat diet significantly altered the expression levels of phospholipids, LCACs, histidine, carnosine, and tetrahydrocorticosterone in skeletal muscle. Principal component analysis (PCA) and least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) showed that, compared with the SND group, skeletal muscle metabolism in HFD group was significantly up-regulated. Among 43 skeletal muscle metabolites in the HFD group, phospholipids, LCACs, histidine, carnosine, and tetrahydrocorticosteroids were identified as biomarkers of skeletal muscle metabolic diseases, and may become potential physiological targets of related diseases in the future. Untargeted metabonomics analysis showed that high-fat diet altered the metabolism of phospholipids, carnitine, amino acids and steroids in skeletal muscle of rabbits. Notably, phospholipids, LCACs, histidine, carnopeptide, and tetrahydrocorticosteroids block the oxidative capacity of mitochondria and disrupt the oxidative capacity of glucose and the fatty acid-glucose cycle in rabbit skeletal muscle.