title: Early changes induced by environmental stresses in insulin sensitivity-related genes.
abstract: Although adipocytes have been shown to secrete various adipocytokines, the factors that influence them are not clearly understood. We investigated whether repeated exposure to mild stresses affects the expression of adipocytokines in white adipose tissue (WAT). Male ICR mice were exposed to repeated restraint and tail-pinch (10 min/day) for 2 weeks. The exposure to restraint and tail-pinch stresses did not cause any change in body or liver weight, decreased the weight of WAT, and resulted in a slight increase in plasma concentration of corticosterone, indicating that mild stress did not result in any changes in blood glucose and insulin. Enhanced gene expression of adiponectin, which is associated with increased insulin sensitivity, and resistin and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), which are associated with decreased insulin sensitivity, was observed in the WAT of stressed mice. These results indicate that WAT is sensitive to mild stress, which may cause changes in the expression of adipocytokines, both improving and decreasing insulin sensitivity even during the normal stage of glucose metabolism. Thus, stress may be a factor that modulates insulin sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, 180 Yamashiro-cho, Tokushima 770-8514, Japan. msato@ph.bunri-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ishibashi
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higashimoto
authors.forename: Yoshito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kadota
authors.forename: Takashige
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D052438:Adipocytes, White / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D052242:Adiponectin / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D004777:Environment; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics; D007333:Insulin Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D052243:Resistin / Q000235:genetics; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D013737:Testis / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D052242:Adiponectin; D052243:Resistin; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha