Preferential Channeling of Energy Fuels Toward Fat Rather Than Muscle During High Free Fatty Acid Availability in Rats

Preferential Channeling of Energy Fuels Toward Fat Rather Than Muscle During High Free Fatty Acid Availability in Rats Roberto Fabris 1 , Enzo Nisoli 2 , Anna Maria Lombardi 1 , Cristina Tonello 2 , Roberto Serra 1 , Marnie Granzotto 1 , Isabelle Cusin 3 , Françoise Rohner-Jeanrenaud 3 , Giovanni Federspil 1 , Michele O. Carruba 2 and Roberto Vettor 1 1 Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Endocrine-Metabolic Laboratory, University of Padova, Padova 2 Department of Preclinical Sciences, Center for Study and Research on Obesity, L. Sacco Hospital, University of Milan, Milan, Italy 3 Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetology, Geneva University Hospital, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland Abstract The preferential channeling of different fuels to fat and changes in the transcription profile of adipose tissue and skeletal muscle are poorly understood processes involved in the pathogenesis of obesity and insulin resistance. Carbohydrate and lipid metabolism may play relevant roles in this context. Freely moving lean Zucker rats received 3- and 24-h infusions of Intralipid (Pharmacia and Upjohn, Milan, Italy) plus heparin, or saline plus heparin, to evaluate how an increase in free fatty acids (nonesterified fatty acid [NEFA]) modulates fat tissue and skeletal muscle gene expression and thus influences fuel partitioning. Glucose uptake was determined in various tissues at the end of the infusion period by means of the 2-deoxy-[1- 3 H]- d -glucose technique after a euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp: high NEFA levels markedly decreased insulin-mediated glucose uptake in red fiber–type muscles but enhanced glucose utilization in visceral fat. Using reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction and Northern blotting analyses, the mRNA expression of fatty acid translocase (FAT)/CD36, GLUT4, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor (PPAR)-γ, leptin, uncoupling protein (UCP)-2, and UCP-3 was investigated in different fat depots and skeletal muscles before and after the study infusions. GLUT4 mRNA levels significantly decreased (by ∼25%) in red fiber–type muscle (soleus) and increased (by ∼45%) in visceral adipose tissue. Furthermore, there were marked increases in FAT/CD36, TNF-α, PPAR-γ, leptin, UCP2, and UCP3 mRNA levels in the visceral fat and muscle of the treated animals in comparison with those measured in the saline-treated animals. These data suggest that the in vivo gene expression of FA