Estudo da correlação entre parâmetros inflamatórios e de obesidade em modelo murino geneticamente selecionado

Abstract

Obesity is defined as an excessive accumulation of adipose tissue that promotes a chronic low-grade inflammatory state in the body. The inflammation driven by excess weight is a multifaceted condition that leads to a propensity to develop numerous comorbidities. Adipocytes secrete and express proteins, hormones, and adipokines, resulting in the increased production of adhesion molecules that, together with chemokines, stimulate the infiltration of immune system cells. The Immunogenetics laboratory has developed mouse strains phenotypically selected on the basis of the intensity of the maximum or minimum acute inflammatory response (AIR) (AIRmax and AIRmin). Since these animals spontaneously accumulate weight and the adipose tissue is described to have a state of chronic basal inflammation, it is interesting to investigate the possible interrelation between these two characteristics in AIRmax and AIRmin strains. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the interference of acute inflammatory response regulatory genes in the weight gain of AIRmin and AIRmax animals, correlating the parameters of serum lipid profile and cytokine genes expression in viscerogonadal adipose tissue. For this, AIRmax and AIRmin mice were used in equivalent groups of males and females submitted to conventional diet or hyperlipidic diet for 06 months. The analysis of the results obtained in relation to the lipid profile revealed that the accumulation of vicerogonadal fat showed a different pattern in HD compared to CD in females of both strains. HD increased cholesterol levels more in AIRmax males than in AIRmin males, while AIRmax females fed HD showed higher triglyceride levels than AIRmin females, which showed increased triglyceride levels when fed HD. Regarding inflammatory cytokines, the data indicate that HD had a tendency to increase the expression of both IL-6 and CCL-2 relative to CD in AIRmin females, which showed higher levels of TNF-α expression. Thus, our data indicate, in general, that HD had a different impact between the sexes, increasing vicerogonadal fat accumulation, cytokine expression and triglycerides in females, especially in AIRmin females, who had the lowest weight gain in CD relative to the other groups.