title: Heterozygous deficiency of endoglin decreases insulin and hepatic triglyceride levels during high fat diet.
abstract: Endoglin is a transmembrane auxiliary receptor for transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) that is predominantly expressed on proliferating endothelial cells. It plays a wide range of physiological roles but its importance on energy balance or insulin sensitivity has been unexplored. Endoglin deficient mice die during midgestation due to cardiovascular defects. Here we report for first time that heterozygous endoglin deficiency in mice decreases high fat diet-induced hepatic triglyceride content and insulin levels. Importantly, these effects are independent of changes in body weight or adiposity. At molecular level, we failed to detect relevant changes in the insulin signalling pathway at basal levels in liver, muscle or adipose tissues that could explain the insulin-dependent effect. However, we found decreased triglyceride content in the liver of endoglin heterozygous mice fed a high fat diet in comparison to their wild type littermates. Overall, our findings indicate that endoglin is a potentially important physiological mediator of insulin levels and hepatic lipid metabolism.
authors: Department of Physiology, School of Medicine-CIMUS - Instituto de Investigaciones Sanitarias (IDIS), CIBER Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad y Nutricion (CIBERobn), University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, Spain.
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Beiroa
authors: Amparo
authors: A
authors: Romero-Picó
authors: Carmen
authors: C
authors: Langa
authors: Carmelo
authors: C
authors: Bernabeu
authors: Miguel
authors: M
authors: López
authors: José M
authors: JM
authors: López-Novoa
authors: Ruben
authors: R
authors: Nogueiras
authors: Carlos
authors: C
authors: Diéguez
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000235:genetics; D059305:Diet, High-Fat; D000071063:Endoglin; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D006579:Heterozygote; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism*; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000235:genetics*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010641:Phenotype; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000071063:Endoglin; C502004:Eng protein, mouse; D007328:Insulin; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D014280:Triglycerides; D005947:Glucose