New adipokines vaspin and omentin. Circulating levels and gene expression in adipose tissue from morbidly obese women

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vaspin and omentin are recently described molecules that belong to the adipokine family and seem to be related to metabolic risk factors. The objectives of this study were twofold: to evaluate vaspin and omentin circulating levels and mRNA expression in subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissues in non-diabetic morbidly obese women; and to assess the relationship of vaspin and omentin with anthropometric and metabolic parameters, and other adipo/cytokines.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>We analysed vaspin and omentin circulating levels in 71 women of European descent (40 morbidly obese [BMI ≥ 40 kg/m²] and 31 lean [BMI ≤ 25]). We assessed vaspin and omentin gene expression in paired samples of visceral and subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue from 46 women: 40 morbidly obese and 6 lean. We determined serum vaspin and plasma omentin levels with an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay and adipose tissue mRNA expression by real time RT-PCR.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Serum vaspin levels in the morbidly obese were not significantly different from those in controls. They correlated inversely with levels of lipocalin 2 and interleukin 6. Vaspin mRNA expression was significantly higher in the morbidly obese, in both subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue.</p> <p>Plasma omentin levels were significantly lower in the morbidly obese and they correlated inversely with glucidic metabolism parameters. Omentin circulating levels, then, correlated inversely with the metabolic syndrome (MS). Omentin expression in visceral adipose tissue was significantly lower in morbidly obese women than in controls.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present study indicates that vaspin may have a compensatory role in the underlying inflammation of obesity. Decreased omentin circulating levels have a close association with MS in morbidly obese women.</p

Intramyocellular lipid quantification from 1H long echo time spectra at 1.5 and 3 T by means of the LCModel technique

PURPOSE: To introduce a method of independent determination of CH2 and CH3 components of intramyocellular lipids (IMCLs) by using long TE for spectra measurement and LCModel for spectra evaluation, to test this technique in controls and insulin-resistant subjects, and to compare results at 1.5 and 3 T. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight healthy volunteers and 11 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus underwent measurement using a 1.5-T MR scanner; six healthy volunteers were measured using a 3-T MR scanner. Spectra from the tibialis anterior muscle were acquired by using a point resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) sequence with the following parameters: TR/TE/ACQ = 2000 msec/270 msec/256. Spectra were processed by LCModel 6.1 software with two types of adopted basis-set. RESULTS: Spectra with good separation of both CH2 and CH3 components of IMCL and extramyocellular lipids (EMCLs) were obtained and the LCModel routine was successfully applied. The reproducibility comparison (N= 7 at 1.5 T vs. N = 5 at 3 T) showed that better results can be obtained at higher B0 values. The comparison of the healthy and insulin-resistant subjects proved that both IMCL_CH2/Cr and IMCL_CH3/Cr ratios significantly differ. CONCLUSION: Long TE spectroscopy of the human muscle with IMCL quantification using the LCModel technique can detect changes in IMCL levels as well as help in the study of fatty acyl chain composition. Using a higher field strength increased the intra-individual reproducibility by approximately 150%