Diet high in fat and sucrose induces rapid onset of obesity-related metabolic syndrome partly through rapid response of genes involved in lipogenesis, insulin signalling and inflammation in mice

Abstract

Background: Frequent consumption of a diet high in fat and sucrose contributes to lifestyle-related diseases. However, limited information is available regarding the short-term effects of such a diet on the onset of obesityassociated metabolic abnormalities. Methods: Male C57BL/6 J mice were divided into two groups and fed a standard chow diet (control group) or a high fathigh sucrose diet containing 21% fat and 34% sucrose (HFHS diet group) for 2 or 4 weeks. Results: The HFHS diet significantly induced body weight gain beginning at week 1 and similarly increased mesenteric white adipose tissue weight and plasma insulin levels at weeks 2 and 4. Plasma resistin levels were notably elevated after feeding with the HFHS diet for 4 weeks. Measurement of hepatic triglycerides and Oil Red O staining clearly indicated increased hepatic lipid accumulation in response to the HFHS diet as early as 2 weeks. Quantitative PCR analysis of liver and white adipose tissue indicated that, starting at week 2, the HFHS diet upregulated mRNA expression from genes involved in lipid metabolism and inflammation and downregulated genes involved in insulin signalling. Although plasma cholesterol levels were also rapidly increased by the HFHS diet, no differences were found between the control and HFHS dietfed animals in the expression of key genes involved in cholesterol biosynthesis. Conclusions: Our study demonstrates that the rapid onset of hepatosteatosis, adipose tissue hypertrophy and hyperinsulinemia by ingestion of a diet high in fat and sucrose may possibly be due to the rapid response of lipogenic, insulin signalling and inflammatory genes. © 2012 Yang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.