title: The effects of aldosterone on diet-induced fatty liver formation in male C57BL/6 mice: comparison of adrenalectomy and mineralocorticoid receptor blocker.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, and hypertension are major determinants of the metabolic syndrome. The effects of aldosterone and mineralocorticoid receptor blockers on fatty liver are largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationships between aldosterone and the development of fatty liver.
  
  
  METHODS
  In our experiments, we performed adrenalectomy (ADX) or administered 100 mg/kg/day eplerenone, a specific mineralocorticoid receptor blocker, to male C57BL/6 mice fed with a 60% fat diet for 20 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  High-fat diet led to metabolic syndrome as indicated by increased body weight, elevated systolic blood pressure, impaired glucose tolerance, elevated insulin levels, and development of fatty liver. A marked reduction of aldosterone by ADX or blockade of aldosterone interaction with its receptor by eplerenone, which increased serum aldosterone considerably, resulted in reduced blood pressure, and reduced serum insulin and levels of triglycerides. However, differential effects were found on reduction of blood glucose to normal levels, which was observed only in ADX. Neither ADX nor eplerenone affected fatty liver formation or body weight. In cultured hepatocytes, triglyceride loading induced by high glucose, oleic acid or very low density lipoprotein was not affected by aldosterone, spironolactone or eplerenone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that whereas aldosterone might be involved in some of the diet-induced insulin and glucose metabolic effects, it played no role in the development of fatty liver.
authors.affiliation: aLipid Research Laboratory, The Rappaport Family Institute for Research in the Medical Sciences, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Medical Center bDepartment of Internal Medicine A, Rambam Medical Center cDepartment of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Aviva
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gamliel-Lazarovich
authors.forename: Ayelet
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raz-Pasteur
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: Shlomo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keidar
mesh_terms: D000315:Adrenalectomy; D000450:Aldosterone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D059305:Diet, High-Fat; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000077545:Eplerenone; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008079:Lipoproteins, VLDL / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D000451:Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019301:Oleic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D013148:Spironolactone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood; D015430:Weight Gain
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D008079:Lipoproteins, VLDL; D000451:Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists; D014280:Triglycerides; D013148:Spironolactone; D019301:Oleic Acid; D000450:Aldosterone; D000077545:Eplerenone; D002784:Cholesterol