Sun Meng, Choi Eugene Y, Magee Daniel J, Stets Colin W, During Matthew J, Lin En-Ju D
Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics and the Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, 912 Biomedical Research Tower, 460 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics and the Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, 912 Biomedical Research Tower, 460 West 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA; Functional Genomics and Translational Neuroscience Lab, Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology, University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
Int Sch Res Notices. 2014 Nov 26;2014:690950. doi: 10.1155/2014/690950. eCollection 2014.
Obesity and metabolic dysfunction are risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and certain forms of cancers. Both animal studies and human population-based and clinical studies have suggested that chronic stress is a risk factor for metabolic disorders. A good social support system is known to exert positive effects on the mental and physical well-being of an individual. On the other hand, long-term deprivation of social contacts may represent a stressful condition that has negative effects on health. In the present study, we investigated the effects of chronic social isolation on metabolic parameters in adult C57BL/6 mice. We found that individually housed mice had increased adipose mass compared to group-housed mice, despite comparable body weight. The mechanism for the expansion of white adipose tissue mass was depot-specific. Notably, food intake was reduced in the social isolated animals, which occurred around the light-dark phase transition periods. Similarly, reductions in heat generated and the respiratory exchange ratio were observed during the light-dark transitions. These phase-specific changes due to long-term social isolation have not been reported previously. Our study shows social isolation contributes to increased adiposity and altered metabolic functions.
肥胖和代谢功能障碍是多种慢性疾病的风险因素，如2型糖尿病、高血压、心脏病、中风和某些类型的癌症。动物研究以及基于人群和临床的人体研究均表明，慢性应激是代谢紊乱的一个风险因素。众所周知，良好的社会支持系统对个体的身心健康具有积极影响。另一方面，长期缺乏社交接触可能是一种对健康有负面影响的应激状态。在本研究中，我们调查了成年C57BL/6小鼠长期社会隔离对代谢参数的影响。我们发现，尽管个体饲养小鼠与群居小鼠体重相当，但前者的脂肪量却有所增加。白色脂肪组织量增加的机制具有储存部位特异性。值得注意的是，社会隔离动物的食物摄入量减少，且这种情况发生在昼夜交替阶段。同样，在昼夜交替期间观察到产热和呼吸交换率降低。长期社会隔离导致的这些特定阶段变化此前尚未见报道。我们的研究表明，社会隔离会导致肥胖增加和代谢功能改变。
