Gender-specific metabolomic profiling of obesity in leptin-deficient ob/ob mice by 1H NMR spectroscopy

PLoS One. 2013 Oct 3;8(10):e75998. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075998. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Despite the numerous metabolic studies on obesity, gender bias in obesity has rarely been investigated. Here, we report the metabolomic analysis of obesity by using leptin-deficient ob/ob mice based on the gender. Metabolomic analyses of urine and serum from ob/ob mice compared with those from C57BL/6J lean mice, based on the (1)H NMR spectroscopy in combination with multivariate statistical analysis, revealed clear metabolic differences between obese and lean mice. We also identified 48 urine and 22 serum metabolites that were statistically significantly altered in obese mice compared to lean controls. These metabolites are involved in amino acid metabolism (leucine, alanine, ariginine, lysine, and methionine), tricarbocylic acid cycle and glucose metabolism (pyruvate, citrate, glycolate, acetoacetate, and acetone), lipid metabolism (cholesterol and carnitine), creatine metabolism (creatine and creatinine), and gut-microbiome-derived metabolism (choline, TMAO, hippurate, p-cresol, isobutyrate, 2-hydroxyisobutyrate, methylamine, and trigonelline). Notably, our metabolomic studies showed distinct gender variations. The obese male mice metabolism was specifically associated with insulin signaling, whereas the obese female mice metabolism was associated with lipid metabolism. Taken together, our study identifies the biomarker signature for obesity in ob/ob mice and provides biochemical insights into the metabolic alteration in obesity based on gender.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biomarkers / blood
  • Biomarkers / metabolism
  • Biomarkers / urine
  • Female
  • Leptin / deficiency*
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Male
  • Metabolomics*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Obese
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Obesity / blood
  • Obesity / metabolism*
  • Obesity / urine*
  • Sex Characteristics*

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Leptin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No. NRF-2011-0016011, No. NRF-2012M3C1A3671508, and No. NRF-2013M3A9B6046418). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.