Chronic alcohol exposure disturbs lipid homeostasis at the adipose tissue-liver axis in mice: analysis of triacylglycerols using high-resolution mass spectrometry in combination with in vivo metabolite deuterium labeling.

Abstract

A method of employing high-resolution mass spectrometry in combination with in vivo metabolite deuterium labeling was developed in this study to investigate the effects of alcohol exposure on lipid homeostasis at the white adipose tissue (WAT)-liver axis in a mouse model of alcoholic fatty liver. In order to differentiate the liver lipids synthesized from the fatty acids that were transported back from adipose tissue and the lipids synthesized from other sources of fatty acids, a two-stage mouse feeding experiment was performed to incorporate deuterium into metabolites. Hepatic lipids extracted from mouse liver, epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) and subcutaneous white adipose tissue (sWAT) were analyzed. It was found that 13 and 10 triacylglycerols (TGs) incorporated with a certain number of deuterium were significantly increased in alcohol induced fatty liver at two and four weeks of alcohol feeding periods, respectively. The concentration changes of these TGs ranged from 1.7 to 6.3-fold increase. A total of 14 deuterated TGs were significantly decreased in both eWAT and sWAT at the two and four weeks and the fold-change ranged from 0.19 to 0.77. The increase of deuterium incorporated TGs in alcohol-induced fatty liver and their decrease in both eWAT and sWAT indicate that alcohol exposure induces hepatic influx of fatty acids which are released from WATs. The results of time course analysis further indicate a mechanistic link between adipose fat loss and hepatic fat gain in alcoholic fatty liver.

• Authors: Xiaoli Wei, Xue Shi, Wei Zhong, Yantao Zhao, Yunan Tang, Wenlong Sun, Xinmin Yin, Bogdan Bogdanov, Seongho Kim, Craig McClain, Zhanxiang Zhou, Xiang Zhang
• Journal: PloS one (PLoS One) Vol. 8 Issue 2 Pg. e55382 ( 2013) ISSN: 1932-6203 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 23405143 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.)

Chemical References

• Fatty Acids
• Triglycerides
• Ethanol
• Deuterium

Topics

• Adipose Tissue, White (drug effects, metabolism)
• Animals
• Deuterium
• Ethanol (toxicity)
• Fatty Acids (metabolism)
• Fatty Liver, Alcoholic (metabolism)
• Feeding Methods
• Homeostasis (drug effects)
• Lipid Metabolism (drug effects)
• Liver (drug effects, metabolism)
• Male
• Mass Spectrometry (methods)
• Mice
• Mice, Inbred C57BL
• Subcutaneous Fat (drug effects, metabolism)
• Triglycerides (metabolism)