Open AccessCigarette smoking blocks the benefit from reduced weight gain for insulin action by shifting lipids deposition to muscle
Author(s) -
Anwar Khan,
Sherouk Fouda,
Ali Mahzari,
Stanley M H Chan,
Xin Zhou,
Cherubina Ratnam,
Ross Vlahos,
Ji-Ming Ye
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
clinical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.91
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1470-8736
pISSN - 0143-5221
DOI - 10.1042/cs20200173
Subject(s) - medicine , endocrinology , adipose tissue , adipose triglyceride lipase , insulin , triglyceride , leptin , lipolysis , lipoprotein lipase , weight gain , glucose uptake , skeletal muscle , chemistry , biology , obesity , body weight , cholesterol
Cigarette smoking (CS) is known to reduce body weight and this often masks its real effect on insulin action. The present study tested the hypothesis that CS can divert lipid deposition to muscles to offset the supposed benefit of reduced body weight gain on insulin signalling in this major site for glucose tolerance (or insulin action). The study was conducted in mice exposed to chronic CS followed by either a chow (CH) diet or a high-fat (HF) diet. CS increased triglyceride (TG) levels in both plasma and muscle despite a reduced body weight gain and adiposity. CS led to glucose intolerance in CH-fed mice and they retained the glucose intolerance that was induced by the HF diet. In adipose tissue, CS increased macrophage infiltration and the mRNA expression of TNFα but suppressed the protein expression of adipose triglyceride lipase and PPARγ. While CS increased hormone-sensitive lipase and suppressed the mRNA expression of leptin, these effects were blunted in HF-fed mice. These results imply that CS impairs insulin signalling in skeletal muscle via accumulated intramuscular lipids from lipolysis and lipodystrophy of adipose tissues. This may explain why smokers may not benefit from insulin sensitising effects of reduced body weight gain.