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Updated: Jul 1, 2025
Body Composition and Metabolic Caging Analysis in High Fat Fed Mice
Published on: May 24, 2018
Metabolic plasticity and obesity-associated changes in diurnal postexercise metabolism in mice
Logan A Pendergrast1, Stephen P Ashcroft2, Amy M Ehrlich2
1Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Section for Integrative Physiology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Background:
Circadian disruption is widespread and increases the risk of obesity. Timing of therapeutic interventions may promote coherent and efficient gating of metabolic processes and restore energy homeostasis.
Aim:
To characterize the diurnal postexercise metabolic state in mice and to identify the influence of diet-induced obesity on identified outcomes.
Methods:
C57BL6/NTac male mice (6 wks of age) were fed a standard chow or high-fat diet for 5 weeks. At week 5, mice were subjected to a 60-min (16 m/min, 5 % incline) running bout (or sham) during the early rest (day) or early active (night) phase. Tissue and serum samples were collected immediately post-exercise (n = 6/group). In vivo glucose oxidation was measured after oral administration of 13C-glucose via 13CO2 exhalation analysis in metabolic cages. Basal and isoproterenol-stimulated adipose tissue lipolysis was assessed ex vivo for 1 h following exercise.
Results:
Lean mice displayed exercise-timing-specific plasticity in metabolic outcomes, including phase-specificity in systemic glucose metabolism and adipose-tissue-autonomous lipolytic activity depending on time of day. Conversely, obesity impaired temporal postexercise differences in whole-body glucose oxidation, as well as the phase- and exercise-mediated induction of lipolysis in isolated adipose tissue. This obesity-induced alteration in diurnal metabolism, as well as the indistinct response to exercise, was observed concomitant with disruption of core clock gene expression in peripheral tissues.
Conclusions:
Overall, high-fat fed obese mice exhibit metabolic inflexibility, which is also evident in the diurnal exercise response. Our study provides physiological insight into exercise timing-dependent aspects in the dynamic regulation of metabolism and the influence of obesity on this biology.
Insights
Obesity disrupts the body's natural daily rhythms, impairing how exercise affects metabolism. Timing exercise may help restore metabolic balance, but obesity hinders this response.
Area of Science:
- Metabolic regulation
- Chronobiology
- Obesity research
Background:
- Circadian disruption is linked to obesity and metabolic dysfunction.
- Therapeutic interventions timed to biological rhythms may restore energy homeostasis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the diurnal metabolic state post-exercise in mice.
- To determine how diet-induced obesity influences these metabolic outcomes.
Main Methods:
- Mice were fed standard or high-fat diets for 5 weeks.
- Exercise or sham treatments were administered during the day or night.
- Glucose oxidation and adipose tissue lipolysis were measured post-exercise.
Main Results:
- Lean mice showed exercise-timing-specific metabolic plasticity.
- Obesity impaired temporal differences in glucose oxidation and lipolysis.
- Obesity-induced metabolic alterations correlated with disrupted core clock gene expression.
Conclusions:
- Obese mice exhibit metabolic inflexibility, impacting their diurnal exercise response.
- Exercise timing influences metabolic regulation, with obesity diminishing this effect.
