Development of high-fat-diet-induced obesity in female metallothionein-null mice

Oxidative stress accelerates adipocyte differentiation and lipid accumulation, leading to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, which causes insulin resistance. Because metallothionein (MT) has a role in prevention of oxidative and ER stress, we examined the effects of MT on the development of obesity induced by 27 wk of a high-fat diet (HFD) in female MT-I- and MT-II-null (MT-/-) and wild-type (MT+/+) mice. Body weight, fat mass, and plasma cholesterol increased at a greater rate in MT-/- mice fed an HFD than in MT-/- mice fed a control diet (CD) and MT+/+ mice fed an HFD, indicating that MT-/- mice fed an HFD became obese and hypercholesterolemic and that MT could prevent HFD-induced obesity. The observed increases in the levels of plasma leptin and leptin mRNA in the white adipose tissue of MT-/- mice fed the HFD suggested a leptin-resistant state. Enhanced expression of a mesoderm-specific transcript, which regulates the enlargement of fat cells, was accompanied by enlarged adipocytes in the white adipose tissue of young MT-/- mice before obesity developed after 3 and 8 wk of feeding the HFD. Thus, MT may have a preventive role against HFD-induced obesity by regulating adipocyte enlargement and leptin signaling.-Sato, M., Kawakami, T., Kondoh, M., Takiguchi, M., Kadota, Y., Himeno, S., Suzuki, S. Development of high-fat-diet-induced obesity in female metallothionein-null mice. FASEB J. 24, 2375-2384 (2010). www.fasebj.org