Increased adiponectin receptor-1 expression in adipose tissue of impaired glucose-tolerant obese subjects during weight loss.

Objective: To investigate the mRNA expression of adiponectin, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2, the two recently cloned adiponectin receptors and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)gamma2 in adipose tissue of obese individuals before and during a very low calorie diet (VLCD) inducing weight loss.

Methods: Twenty-three non-diabetic obese subjects with normal (NGT, n = 11) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT, n = 12) (age, 47 +/- 3 years; body mass index, 39.3 +/- 1.3 kg/m2) were studied before and after a 3-week 3.9 MJ diet daily without exercise. mRNA levels of nine IGT and six NGT subjects were measured by real-time PCR in s.c. abdominal adipose tissue.

Results: Metabolic parameters and insulin sensitivity were improved by VLCD in the IGT group, but minimally affected in the NGT group. VLCD increased expression of AdipoR1 in the IGT (P = 0.02), but not in the NGT group. Adiponectin, AdipoR2 and PPARgamma2 mRNA levels did not change during VLCD in any group. In the IGT, but not in the NGT group, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 expressions were positively related to that of PPARgamma2 and, after VLCD, AdipoR1 and AdipoR2 expressions were positively related to each other and to that of adiponectin.

Conclusion: In the NGT group, the 3-week VLCD inducing weight loss did not modify metabolic parameters, insulin sensitivity and the expression of the adiponectin system in adipose tissue. By contrast, in the IGT group, AdipoR1 expression increased and we found a coordinate regulation of the expression of adiponectin and its receptors. These modifications could participate, through adiponectin action on adipocytes, to the improved metabolic parameters observed in IGT subjects.