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Impaired PI3 K Akt expression in liver and skeletal muscle of ovariectomized rats

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Abstract

It is well established that estrogen deficiency is strongly linked to the development of insulin resistance (IR), but the mechanism is still unclear. Since IR is characterized by a marked reduction in insulin-stimulated PI3 K-mediated activation of Akt in liver and skeletal muscle, we hypothesized that ovariectomized rats (OVX) would exhibit reductions in the expression of proteins in PI3 K signaling pathway, including PI3 K and Akt. As hypothesized, after observing for 12 weeks, compared with the SHAM rats, ovariectomy led to decreased plasma estrogen level and increased HOMA-IR index; in addition, ovariectomy also caused decreased PI3 K and Akt expression levels in the liver and skeletal muscle. Interestingly, the expression patterns differed in tissue-dependent fashion: Akt1 was only found reduction in liver, whereas Akt2 decreased in muscle; these changes can be reversed by estrogen supplement (OVXE). In conclusion, data demonstrate that estrogen withdrawals may cause IR at least in part by impaired PI3 K/Akt signaling proteins in liver and skeletal muscle, and Akt1 and Akt2 might be tissue-specific expressions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the Hebei Natural Science Foundation (C2009001179) and the Medical Scientific Research Key Program of Hebei Province (20120101).

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None of the authors has any conflicts of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050051, China

    Yan Wang, Baoxin Li, Yan Liu, Peng Xue, Jianxia Ma & Yukun Li

  2. Department of Radiology, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050051, China

    Wei Zhang

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  1. Yan Wang
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  2. Baoxin Li
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Correspondence to Yukun Li.

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Wang, Y., Li, B., Zhang, W. et al. Impaired PI3 K Akt expression in liver and skeletal muscle of ovariectomized rats. Endocrine 44, 659–665 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12020-013-9894-1

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