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Published on: June 3, 2016
High-Fat Diet Differentially Regulates Fibroblast Growth Factor Expression in Metabolic Tissues of Young and Aged
Qian Lin1,2, Xiaodan Hui2, Chunjie Gu2
1Touchstone Diabetes Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
Context:
Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) play critical roles in metabolism, yet their tissue-specific expression in response to obesity and aging remains unclear.
Objective:
We investigated the mRNA expression profiles of FGFs along with their receptors, across major metabolic tissues-heart, liver, kidney, skeletal muscle, gonadal white adipose tissue, subcutaneous white adipose tissue, and brown adipose tissue.
Methods:
Young (7-week-old) and aged (12-month-old) male mice were fed either a high-fat diet (HFD) or a normal diet for 11 weeks. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to measure mRNA expression levels of FGFs and their receptors.
Results:
The FGF system exhibited widespread expression, with the heart showing the most pronounced response to HFD-induced stress, followed by the liver and kidney, while skeletal muscle exhibited minimal changes. Adipose tissues displayed distinct FGF expression patterns under HFD conditions, with FGF1 being the most responsive, followed by FGF9. Although aged mice exhibited significantly greater body and organ weights, FGF expression profiles showed minimal variation between young and aged mice in most organs except heart.
Conclusion:
These findings underscore the tissue-specific dynamics of the FGF system under metabolic stress, identifying FGF1 as a promising therapeutic target for addressing obesity- and aging-related metabolic dysfunction.
