[The relationship between insulin resistance and adiponectin gene expression in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the relationship between insulin resistance (IR) and adiponectin gene expression in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).


METHODS
Subcutaneous (SC) and omental (OM) adipose tissues were obtained from 21 NAFLD patients with obesity (n=10) and nonobesity (n=11) and also from 24 subjects (without NAFLD) with obesity (n=11) and nonobesity (n=13) who served as controls. Adiponectin mRNA expression levels in subcutaneous and omental adipose tissues were measured using SYBR Green I quantitative real-time PCR. The levels of plasma adiponectin and insulin were measured with ELISA. IR was estimated using the homeostasis assessment (HOMA).


RESULTS
The scores of HOMA-IR levels of the NAFLD patients and the controls with obesity and nonobesity were: 3.0+/-0.8, 2.8+/-0.9, 2.0+/-0.6, 1.2+/-0.5 respectively. The relative mRNA expression of adiponectin and blood adiponectin levels in NAFLD patients differed significantly from those of the controls. The HOMA-IR negatively correlated with the adiponectin mRNA expression levels of adipose tissues (r = -0.5) and blood adiponectin; it positively correlated with body mass index (r = 0.4), waist-hip-ratio (r = 0.4) and serum triglyceride (r = 0.3), but did not correlate with serum total cholesterol (r = 0.2).


CONCLUSIONS
IR of NAFLD patients was linked to low adiponectin gene expression in their adipose tissues. This finding suggests that low adiponectin gene expression may play a role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and NAFLD.
Department of Gastroenterology, First Municipal People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou 510180, China.
Hui
H
Yang
Yu-yuan
YY
Li
Yu-qiang
YQ
Nie
Yong-jian
YJ
Zhou
Yan-lei
YL
DU
Wei-hong
WH
Sha
Yong
Y
Hong
D052242:Adiponectin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
D052242:Adiponectin; D007328:Insulin