Abstract
Zinc alpha2 glycoprotein (ZAG) is a new type of adipokine involved in adipose tissue
mobilization, however, little is known about its lipid metabolism effect in liver.
Therefore, we investigated the effects of ZAG in the regulation of hepatic lipid accumulation.
Mice were randomly divided into two groups; one was fed a normal diet and another
was fed a high-fat diet for eight weeks to establish obesity model. After that, the
normal diet group was divided into ND (injection of pcDNA3.1) and NDZ (injection of
ZAG recombinant plasmid) and the high-fat diet group was divided into HF (injection
of pcDNA3.1) and HFZ (injection of ZAG recombinant plasmid). The mice were weighed
once per week and injected with plasmid once every three days for eight times. The
results showed that body weight and hepatic TG content were decreased dramatically
in HFZ group compared with HF group. The stearoyl-CoAdesaturase1 (SCD1) and Acyl-CoA
Synthetase-1 (ACSS1) protein levels in HFZ group were significantly decreased. Furthermore,
phosphorylated hormone sensitive lipase (P-HSL) was significantly higher in HFZ group.
In HFZ group, hepatic fatty acid translocase (CD36) and fatty acids binding protein-1
(FABP1) protein levels were reduced. In addition, the expression of phosphorylated
protein kinase A (PPKA) in HFZ group was higher than the HF group. Meanwhile, NDZ
group showed significantly decreased body weight and increased P-HSL level though
the hepatic TG content showed no significantly changes compared with the ND group.
Therefore, we conclude that ZAG may be beneficial for preventing high-fat-diet-induced
hepatic lipid metabolic disorders.
Key words
zinc alpha2 glycoprotein - lipid metabolism - mouse - liver
