Metabolic syndrome is an ever-increasing health problem among the world's population. It is a group of intertwined maladies that includes obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and diabetes mellitus type II (T2D). There is a direct correlation between high triacylglycerol (triglyceride; TAG) level and severity of metabolic syndrome. Thus, controll...

Genetic markers associated with meat quality may have adverse effects on reproduction performance, as shown for a variant in the leptin receptor (LEPR) gene. There is single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) gene that influences monounsaturated fatty acid content of pork. Here, we investigate and combined SCD (rs80912566 T>C) LEPR (rs709596309 C>T) SNP litter size wean...

The present study was designed to investigate the role of the medial preoptic nucleus (MPO) as a site of the thermogenic and metabolic effects of the α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone analog melanotan II (MTII). We also assessed the involvement of the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus (DMH) by investigating the effects of the MPO infusion of MTII in rats with DMH lesions produced by kainic acid. ...

Apolipoprotein B100 (apoB100) is an essential component of very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL), both independent markers of cardiovascular risk. Nicotinic acid (NA) is an efficacious drug for decreasing VLDL and LDL, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. For this purpose, six obese insulin-resistant dogs were given 350 mg/day of NA for 1 week and then 500 ...

The final step of triacylglycerol biosynthesis is catalyzed by acyl CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) enzymes. The two known DGATs, DGAT1 and DGAT2, are encoded by unrelated genes. Although both DGAT1 and DGAT2 knockout mice have reduced tissue triacylglycerol contents, they have disparate phenotypes, prompting us to investigate whether the two enzymes have unrecognized functional diffe...

The rates of gestational cannabis use have increased despite limited evidence for its safety in fetal life. Recent animal studies demonstrate that prenatal exposure to ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (?9-THC, the psychoactive component cannabis) promotes intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), culminating postnatal metabolic deficits. Given IUGR is associated with impaired hepatic function, we hypothes...

Wax esters are used as coatings or storage lipids in all kingdoms of life. They are synthesized from a fatty alcohol and an acyl-CoA by wax synthases. In order to get insights into the structure-function relationships of a wax synthase from Mus musculus, a domain swap experiment between the mouse acyl-CoA:wax alcohol acyltransferase (AWAT2) and the homologous mouse acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol O-acy...

Article history: Received 27 January 2011 Received in revised form 1 April 2011 Accepted 19 April 2011 Diacylgycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) plays a key modulatory role in animal fat deposition. Intramuscular fat (IMF) content and backfat thickness (BFT) were important factors in establishing pork quality. Therefore, the objectives of the current study were to elucidate the relationship between ...

Canagliflozin, an inhibitor of sodium glucose co-transporter (SGLT) 2, has been shown to reduce body weight during the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In this study, we sought to determine the role of canagliflozin in body weight loss and liver injury in obesity. C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet to simulate diet-induced obesity (DIO). Canagliflozin (15 and 60 mg/kg) was admi...