Coordinated improvement in glucose tolerance, liver steatosis and obesity-associated inflammation by cannabinoid 1 receptor antagonism in fat Aussie mice.

Objective: Fat Aussie mice (foz/foz) are morbidly obese, glucose intolerant and have liver steatosis that develops into steatohepatitis on a high-fat diet. The cannabinoid 1 receptor (CB1) antagonist SR141716 has been shown to improve obesity-associated metabolic complications in humans and rodent models. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of SR141716 in foz/foz mice.

Maternal protein restriction increases hepatic glycogen storage in young rats.

This study aimed to determine whether maternal protein restriction alters hepatic glycogen metabolism. Mated female rats were fed diets containing 20% protein throughout pregnancy and lactation (CONT), 8% protein throughout pregnancy and lactation (LP), or 8% protein during the last week of pregnancy only and lactation (LLP). Weights and lengths were reduced in the LLP and LP offspring compared with the CONT offspring.

Site-specific changes in the expression of fat-partitioning genes in weanling rats exposed to a low-protein diet in utero.

Objective: Intrauterine growth restriction is associated with increased prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in adult life, including increased adiposity. The aim of this study was to investigate if maternal protein energy malnutrition is associated with changes in expression of genes involved in fat partitioning in weanling rats.

Research Methods And Procedures: Time-mated mothers were placed on one of two isocaloric diets, low protein [(LP), 8% protein] or control (20% protein).

Dietary modulation of circulating leptin levels: site-specific changes in fat deposition and ob mRNA expression.

In order to study the effects of diet on fat distribution, circulating leptin levels and ob mRNA expression, diets of different macronutrient composition were fed to lean mice and gold thioglucose-obese mice. A high-fat diet and 2 high-carbohydrate diets, one containing mostly high-glycaemic-index starch and the other containing low-glycaemic-index starch were fed ad libitum for 10 weeks and were compared to standard laboratory chow. Weight gain was attenuated by feeding low-glycaemic-index starch in all mice and by feeding a high-fat diet in lean mice.

Creatine supplementation alters insulin secretion and glucose homeostasis in vivo.

Dietary creatine supplementation has been used to improve skeletal muscle performance. However, dietary creatine manipulation also affects glucose homeostasis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary creatine supplementation on insulin secretion, glucose tolerance, and quadriceps glycogen metabolism in chow-fed rats.