Glo1 reduction in mice results in age- and sex-dependent metabolic dysfunction

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been implicated as an important mediator of metabolic disorders including obesity, insulin resistance, and coronary artery disease. Glyoxalase 1 (Glo1) is a critical enzyme in the clearance of toxic dicarbonyl such as methylglyoxal, precursors of AGEs. The role of AGE-independent mechanisms that underly Glo1-induced metabolic disorders have yet to be elucidated.

We performed a longitudinal study of female and male Glo1 heterozygous knockdown (Glo1 ^+/- ) mice with ~50% gene expression and screened metabolic phenotypes such as body weight, adiposity, glycemic control and plasma lipids. We also evaluated atherosclerotic burden, AGE levels, and gene expression profiles across cardiometabolic tissues (liver, adipose, muscle, kidney and aorta) to identify pathway perturbations and potential regulatory genes of Glo1 actions.

Partial loss of Glo1 resulted in obesity, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and alterations in lipid metabolism in metabolic tissues in an age- and sex-dependent manner. Glo1 ^+/- females displayed altered glycemic control and increased plasma triglycerides, which aligned with significant perturbations in genes involved in adipogenesis, PPARg, insulin signaling, and fatty acid metabolism pathways in liver and adipose tissues. Conversely, Glo1 ^+/- males developed increased skeletal muscle mass and visceral adipose depots along with changes in lipid metabolism pathways. For both cohorts, most phenotypes manifested after 14 weeks of age. Evaluation of methylglyoxal-derived AGEs demonstrated changes in only male skeletal muscle but not in female tissues, which cannot explain the broad metabolic changes observed in Glo1 ^+/- mice. Transcriptional profiles suggest that altered glucose and lipid metabolism may be partially explained by alternative detoxification of methylglyoxal to metabolites such as pyruvate. Moreover, transcription factor (TF) analysis of the tissue-specific gene expression data identified TFs involved in cardiometabolic diseases such as Hnf4a (all tissues) and Arntl (aorta, liver, and kidney) which are female-biased regulators and whose targets are altered in response to Glo1 ^+/- .

Our results indicate that Glo1 reduction perturbs metabolic health and metabolic pathways in a sex- and age-dependent manner without significant changes in AGEs across metabolic tissues. Rather, tissue-specific gene expression analysis suggests that key transcription factors such as Hfn4a and Arntl as well as metabolite changes from alternative methylglyoxal detoxification such as pyruvate, likely contribute to metabolic dysregulation in Glo1 ^+/- mice.