Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology, Universitat de les Illes Balears and CIBER de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Cra Valldemossa Km 7.5, E-07122, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Pflugers Arch. 2013 Apr;465(4):459-68. doi: 10.1007/s00424-013-1246-8. Epub 2013 Feb 20.
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) have a great potential for nutrition and obesity studies. PBMC reflect the nutritional response of key organs involved in energy homeostasis maintenance, which is altered in the obese state. Here, we aimed to determine the usefulness of PBMC as a source of early markers of obesity. To that purpose, we analysed whether PBMC could reflect the insensitivity to changes in feeding conditions associated with obesity during the development of this pathology. Expression of key genes central to energy metabolism was measured by Q-PCR in PBMC samples of normoweight (control) and cafeteria-fed (obese) rats in feeding, fasting and refeeding conditions. Samples were obtained monthly from 2 (beginning of cafeteria diet-feeding) to 6 months of age. In general terms, expression of genes related to fatty acid synthesis (Fasn, Srebp1) and adipogenesis (Pparg) decreased with fasting and increased with refeeding. Conversely, the expression of a key gene regulating beta-oxidation (Cpt1a) and the gene for an orexigenic neuropeptide (Npy)-in accordance with their metabolic role-increased with fasting and decreased with refeeding. This expression pattern disappeared in obese rats, in which insensitivity to feeding conditions was observed after only 1 month of cafeteria diet-feeding. Thus, during development, PBMC accurately reflect nutritional regulation of energy homeostasic genes and the insensitivity to feeding associated with obesity, even in the earlier stages with a low degree of overweight. For this reason, this set of blood cells could constitute a potential source of biomarkers of early homeostatic imbalance which would be useful in nutrition studies that could help prevent the occurrence of obesity.
外周血单核细胞（PBMC）在营养和肥胖研究中有很大的潜力。PBMC 反映了参与能量平衡维持的关键器官的营养反应，而在肥胖状态下，这种反应会发生改变。在这里，我们旨在确定 PBMC 作为肥胖早期标志物来源的有用性。为此，我们分析了 PBMC 是否可以反映与肥胖相关的进食条件变化的不敏感性，而这种不敏感性是在这种病理发生过程中出现的。通过 Q-PCR 分析了正常体重（对照组）和 cafeteria 喂养（肥胖组）大鼠 PBMC 样本中与能量代谢相关的关键基因的表达，在喂食、禁食和再喂食条件下进行分析。从 2 个月（ cafeteria 饮食喂养开始）到 6 个月龄，每月采集一次样本。总的来说，与脂肪酸合成（Fasn、Srebp1）和脂肪生成（Pparg）相关的基因表达随着禁食而减少，随着再喂食而增加。相反，调节β氧化（Cpt1a）的关键基因和食欲肽神经肽基因（Npy）-根据其代谢作用-随着禁食而增加，随着再喂食而减少。这种表达模式在肥胖大鼠中消失了，在 cafeteria 饮食喂养仅 1 个月后，就观察到了对进食条件的不敏感性。因此，在发育过程中，PBMC 准确地反映了能量稳态基因的营养调节和与肥胖相关的进食不敏感性，即使在超重程度较低的早期阶段也是如此。因此，这组血细胞可能构成了早期稳态失衡生物标志物的潜在来源，这在营养研究中可能有助于预防肥胖的发生。
