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Department of Human Nutrition (M.P., J.A.S., G.F.), University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60612; and Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (L.C.), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Giamila Fantuzzi, Department of Human Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1919 West Taylor Street, MC 517, Chicago, Illinois 60612. E-mail: giamila{at}uic.edu.
| Abstract |
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, and interferon-
in wild-type (WT) and APN knockout (KO) mice. Furthermore, LPS-induced hypoglycemia, anorexia, and body weight loss did not differ between WT and APN KO mice. Administration of a low dose of LPS (100 or 10 ng/g) in association with D-galactosamine induced equivalent mortality rates, hepatotoxicity, and serum IL-6 in WT and APN KO mice. Finally, ConA-induced cytokine production and hepatotoxicity were not significantly different between WT and APN KO mice. These data indicate thatdespite its well-described role as an antiinflammatory moleculeendogenous APN does not play a critical role in modulating the inflammatory responses to LPS and ConA in mice. | Introduction |
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(1). The APN monomer is composed of a collagenous and a globular domain: APN monomers assemble into trimers, which further polymerize to various degrees, leading to the presence of several molecular weight forms of APN in the circulation (2). Furthermore, APN can be cleaved by elastase, resulting in the generation of a free globular domain, which may have distinct biological functions (3). APN exerts its activity by binding to specific seven-transmembrane domain receptors, which have been cloned and named ADIPOR1 and ADIPOR2 (4). These receptors are expressed by a variety of cell types and signal through multiple pathways, including AMP kinase and p38 MAPK (4). In addition to binding to its own receptors, APN can also act as a decoy for several growth factors (5), thus impeding them from binding and activating their respective receptors and therefore effectively preventing their bioactivity. Furthermore, APN binds to T cadherin, although the biological significance of this interaction is still unclear (6).
The biology of APN has mostly been investigated in the context of insulin sensitivity and atherosclerosis. A strong epidemiological relationship between low circulating APN and diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease has been reported (1). In accordance, several antiinflammatory effects have been described for APN, including inhibition of TNF
production and activity, inhibition of nuclear factor-
B activation, induction of antiinflammatory cytokines, and down-regulation of adhesion molecules (7). Based on these observations and on the protective role of APN in cardiovascular disease, this adipokine is generally considered as an antiinflammatory molecule. In particular, it has been suggested that APN might play a protective role in the experimental models of systemic inflammation induced by administration of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) or Concanavalin A (ConA) in mice. Administration of APN reduced liver damage in the model of hepatotoxicity induced by administration of D-galactosamine (GalN) and LPS to obese mice by inhibiting production of TNF
(8). A suggested mechanism by which this inhibition might occur is the ability of APN to bind and possibly inactivate LPS (9, 10). Recently, it has been demonstrated that APN deficiency exacerbates liver injury in the model of GalN and LPS administration (11). Furthermore, administration of APN is protective in the model of liver damage induced by administration of ConA, possibly by modulating production of IL-10 as well as TNF
bioactivity (12, 13).
The present study was performed to investigate the effect of APN deficiency on the inflammatory response to LPS and ConA. Based on the previously available evidence of APN acting as an antiinflammatory molecule, we hypothesized that APN-deficient [APN knockout (KO)] mice would develop a more severe inflammatory response compared with their wild-type (WT) littermates. However, in contrast to our expectations, the results obtained indicate that APN deficiency does not significantly alter the in vivo inflammatory response to LPS or ConA in mice.
| Materials and Methods |
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Animals and treatments
Care of mice followed institutional guidelines under protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Adiponectin KO mice were generated as previously described (14). Mice were in a C57BL6 background. Mice heterozygous for APN were mated and 8- to 10-wk-old littermates used for each experiment. Mice were genotyped by PCR of tail DNA, and APN deficiency was confirmed in each mouse by measuring serum APN using a specific ELISA (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN). No significant differences in terms of serum APN levels were observed between +/+ and +/ mice. Therefore, mice of both genotypes were used and are collectively defined as WT throughout the remaining of the report.
LPS was administered ip at either 100 µg/mouse alone or at 10 or 100 ng/g body weight in association with GalN (800 µg/g body weight). ConA was administered iv at a dose of 100 µg/mouse. Serum samples were obtained from the retroorbital plexus at various times after administration of LPS or ConA. For evaluation of survival, anorexia and body weight, mice received injections of LPS or LPS + GalN and were monitored every 24 h without any further intervention.
Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), glucose, and cytokine measurement
Serum levels of ALT were determined using a colorimetric method (TECO Diagnostics, Anaheim, CA). Glucose levels were measured using a glucometer (Bayer, Leverkusen Germany). Levels of IL-6, TNF
, and interferon (IFN)
were determined using commercially available ELISA kits, specific for murine cytokines, according to the manufacturers protocol. Kits for IL-6 were from BD Biosciences (San Jose, CA), whereas kits for TNF
, and IFN
were from e-Biosciences (San Diego, CA).
Statistical analysis
ANOVA using Fishers least significant difference was used. Data are expressed as the mean ± SEM. Differences were considered significant for P < 0.05.
| Results and Discussion |
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Response of WT and APN KO mice to high-dose LPS
To investigate the role of endogenous APN in the response to a high dose of LPS, WT and APN KO mice were injected with 100 µg/mouse of LPS and their response evaluated in terms of cytokine production, glycemia, anorexia, and body weight loss.
As shown in Table 1
, LPS induced a marked increase in serum levels of IL-6, TNF
, and IFN-
in both WT and APN KO mice. In contrast to our hypothesis that APN deficiency would lead to an enhanced inflammatory response, no significant differences were observed between WT and APN KO mice for any of the cytokines measured. Thus, endogenous APN does not appear to be a critical modulator of cytokine production in response to LPS in vivo.
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is an essential mediator of LPS toxicity, and we previously reported that APN modulates TNF
bioactivity in vitro (13). Therefore, even in the presence of comparable amounts of TNF
in WT and APN KO mice, these latter could be more susceptible to the toxic effects of TNF
. To clarify this issue, we investigated whether the cytokine-mediated effects of LPS toxicity were influenced by the absence of APN. As shown in Fig. 1
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Response of WT and APN KO mice to low-dose LPS
To investigate whether APN deficiency is associated with alterations in the response to low doses of LPS, we used the well-characterized model of injection of very low doses of LPS in association with GalN. This model has previously been used to demonstrate a beneficial effect of administration of exogenous APN in obese mice (8). Recently, Matsumoto et al. (11) used this model to demonstrate increased lethality and hepatotoxicity and altered cytokine production in a strain of APN KO mice that was generated independently from the one we used.
WT and APN KO mice received an ip injection of GalN immediately followed by administration of LPS at either 100 or 10 ng/g, and survival was evaluated. One hundred percent lethality (7/7 in WT and 6/6 in APN KO mice) was observed in both WT and APN KO mice 56 h after administration of LPS at 100 ng/g. When the lower dose of 10 ng/g was used, lethality was 0% in both groups. Using this lower dose, the effect of LPS + GalN on liver damage and IL-6 production was evaluated. As shown in Fig. 3
, LPS-induced serum ALT and IL-6 levels were not significantly different between the two groups.
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Response of WT and APN KO Mice to ConA
Data previously reported by our group as well as by Wolf et al. (12, 13) indicated that APNpossibly produced locally in the liverplays a protective effect against ConA-induced hepatotoxicity by modulating production of IL-10 and the response to the hepatotoxic effects of TNF
. To investigate the role of endogenous APN in the response to ConA, WT and APN KO mice were injected with 100 µg of ConA or vehicle and their response evaluated at 2, 6, and 24 h in terms of serum ALT levels as well as production of various cytokines. As indicated in Table 2
, no significant differences between WT and APN KO mice were observed for any of the parameters evaluated. Similar results were obtained when mice received a lower dose of ConA, 50 µg/mouse (serum ALT were 1856 ± 1144 and 1295 ± 964 IU/liter in WT and APN KO at 24 h, respectively).
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| Conclusions |
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| Footnotes |
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Disclosure statement: The authors have nothing to disclose.
First Published Online August 10, 2006
Abbreviations: ALT, Alanine aminotransferase; APN, adiponectin; ConA, Concanavalin A; GalN, D-galactosamine; KO, knockout; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; WT, wild type.
Received June 23, 2006.
Accepted for publication August 1, 2006.
| References |
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in KK-Ay obese mice. Hepatology 40:177184[CrossRef][Medline]
agonists. J Biol Chem 281:26542660
and D-galactosamine-mediated hepatocellular apoptosis and lethality. J Immunol 165:65596567This article has been cited by other articles:
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