1210-P: Subcutaneous-Depot Specific Adiposity Change Is Associated with the Ectopic Fat Depot and Tissue Damage in High-Fat High-Sucrose (HFHS) Fed Fabp4 Cre-ERK2 Knockout Mice

Previous reports suggested that low subcutaneous adiposity increases the risk of cardiovascular events and diabetes. Mechanisms of depot-specific differences are still unknown. During studying tissue-specific roles of ERK2 (MAPK1), we observed Fabp4Cre mediated adipocyte-specific ERK2 knockout mice (AE2KO) with HFHS diet showed diminished the size of adipocytes in an only subcutaneous depot and increased ectopic fat depot and fibrotic steatohepatitis. The male AE2KO was created by crossing the C57BL/6 background Fabp4-Cre with ERK2flox/flox mouse. ERK2flox/flox Cre- mouse was used as a control. ERK2KO was observed only in white adipose tissues. With a normal diet, AE2KO mice showed no phenotype. HFHS diet started at age 6 weeks for 18 weeks. AE2KO exhibited 18% increase in body weight (n=8 each, p