title: Metabolic effects of short-term fasting in obese hyperglycaemic humans and mice.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the metabolic effects of short-term fasting in obese diabetic patients and to correlate the observed changes with the activity of hepatic key enzymes in an animal model of obesity-associated diabetes (ob/ob mice, C57BL/6J strain). In obese diabetic patients (ODP), a 72-h fast (causing slight change in body weight) decreased fasting glycemia by 3.82 +/- 0.79 mmoles/l and significantly improved glucose tolerance (OGTT) while reducing basal and stimulated insulinemia, whereas in obese non-diabetic patients (ONDP) only a small decrease in fasting glycemia (1.24 +/- 0.51 mmoles/l) occurred. This suggests that in ODP hyperphagia is a factor contributing to maintain hyperglycaemia and glucose intolerance (in the face of hyperinsulinaemia, indicating insulin resistance). In fed obese hyperglycaemic mice (OHM), which are a good model of the human obesity-associated diabetes, hepatic fructose-1,6-diphosphatase (F16Pase) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase), involved in glucose production, showed increased activity (+52 and +200 per cent, respectively) compared to control mice (CM), and the ratios of F16Pase and G6Pase to the opposing enzymes phosphofructokinase (PFK1) and glucokinase (GK), i.e. the F16Pase/PFK1 and G6Pase/GK ratios, were increased by 38 and 101 per cent, respectively, suggesting increase in gluconeogenesis and perhaps in glycogenolysis. In the 48-h fasted OHM, F16Pase activity was decreased (-30 per cent) compared to the fed animals, while the activity of G6Pase showed a smaller and statistically not significant change (-22 per cent). In contrast, in the CM a 48-h fasting was associated with a trend toward increased F16Pase (+22 per cent) and G6Pase (+173 per cent). However, since PFK1 and GK decreased to a similar extent in OHM and CM, the F16Pase/PFK1 and G6Pase/GK ratios, basally elevated in the OHM, did not change with fasting, whereas in the CM they showed a striking elevation (+71 and +274 per cent, respectively). The basally elevated F16Pase/PFK1 and G6Pase/GK ratios (functionally linked to glucose production) in the OHM may contribute to maintain hyperglycaemia; in these mice, the lack of further increase in the glucose production-related F16Pase/PFK1 and G6Pase/GK ratios (which occurs in CM) with fasting might allow that the interruption of the afflux of dietary carbohydrates ameliorates the glycaemic level. Similar mechanisms might occur also in the ODP.
authors.affiliation: Chair of Pathophysiology of Metabolism, University of Catania Medical School, Ospedale Garibaldi, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Belfiore
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iannello
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Rabuazzo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Campione
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D005215:Fasting; D005260:Female; D006597:Fructose-Bisphosphatase / Q000378:metabolism; D005941:Glucokinase / Q000378:metabolism; D005943:Gluconeogenesis; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test; D005952:Glucose-6-Phosphatase / Q000378:metabolism; D005990:Glycerol / Q000097:blood; D006019:Glycolysis; D006801:Humans; D006943:Hyperglycemia / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008820:Mice, Obese; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000378:metabolism*; D010732:Phosphofructokinase-1 / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D010732:Phosphofructokinase-1; D005941:Glucokinase; D006597:Fructose-Bisphosphatase; D005952:Glucose-6-Phosphatase; D005990:Glycerol