Anti-tnf treatment does not reverse the abnormalities in lipid
metabolism of the obese zucker rat.
L[acute]opez-Soriano, Joaqu[acute]in, Francisco J. L[acute]opez
-Soriano, Gregory J. Bagby, Dermot H. Williamson, and Josep M.
Argil[acute]es.
Departament de Bioqu[acute]imica i Biologia Molecular, Facultat de
Biologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, Department of
Physiology, Louisiana State University Medical Center, New Orleans,
LA, USA, Metabolic Research Laboratory, Nuffield Dept. of Clinical
Medicine, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, U.K.
APStracts 4:0006E, 1997.
Since obesity, insulin resistance and hyperlipidemia are often
associated, and recent evidence suggests that the cytokine tumour
necrosis factor-[alpha] (TNF) may influence the activity of insulin
in various target tissues, the present study was designed to see if
TNF was also associated with the changes in lipid metabolism that
lead to hyperlipidemia in the obese model the Zucker rat. A
polyclonal goat anti-rat TNF antibody was subcutaneously administered
t- Zucker rats for four days in order to block TNF actions. The
results indicate that none of the alterations in lipid metabolism
seen in the obese animals were reversed by the anti-TNF treatment.
This was the case for the lipogenic rate in liver and adipose tissue,
the disposal of an exogenous 14C-triolein load, adipose tissue
lipoprotein lipase activity and the hypertriglyceridemia.
Measurements of lipolysis in adipose tissue slices from the anti-TNF
treated animals also did not show any significant effect of the
treatment. In conclusion, TNF does not seem to be involved in the
abnormalities of lipid metabolism observed in the obese Zucker rat.
Received 19 March 1996; accepted in final form 1 October 1996.
APS Manuscript Number E140-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Endocrinol. Metab.).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1997 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 21 January 1997