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Peripheral blood mononuclear cells: a potential source of homeostatic imbalance markers associated with obesity development

  • Integrative Physiology
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Abstract

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) have a great potential for nutrition and obesity studies. PBMC reflect the nutritional response of key organs involved in energy homeostasis maintenance, which is altered in the obese state. Here, we aimed to determine the usefulness of PBMC as a source of early markers of obesity. To that purpose, we analysed whether PBMC could reflect the insensitivity to changes in feeding conditions associated with obesity during the development of this pathology. Expression of key genes central to energy metabolism was measured by Q-PCR in PBMC samples of normoweight (control) and cafeteria-fed (obese) rats in feeding, fasting and refeeding conditions. Samples were obtained monthly from 2 (beginning of cafeteria diet-feeding) to 6 months of age. In general terms, expression of genes related to fatty acid synthesis (Fasn, Srebp1) and adipogenesis (Pparg) decreased with fasting and increased with refeeding. Conversely, the expression of a key gene regulating beta-oxidation (Cpt1a) and the gene for an orexigenic neuropeptide (Npy)—in accordance with their metabolic role—increased with fasting and decreased with refeeding. This expression pattern disappeared in obese rats, in which insensitivity to feeding conditions was observed after only 1 month of cafeteria diet-feeding. Thus, during development, PBMC accurately reflect nutritional regulation of energy homeostasic genes and the insensitivity to feeding associated with obesity, even in the earlier stages with a low degree of overweight. For this reason, this set of blood cells could constitute a potential source of biomarkers of early homeostatic imbalance which would be useful in nutrition studies that could help prevent the occurrence of obesity.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, CIBERobn. This work was also supported by the Spanish Government (Ministry of Education and Science, AGL 2009-11277/ALI) and the European Union (BIOCLAIMS FP7-244995). Our laboratory is a member of the European Research Network of Excellence NuGO (The European Nutrigenomics Organization, EU Contract: FOOD-CT-2004-506360 NUGO).

Ethical standards

The experiments followed in this study were reviewed and approved by the Bioethical Committee of the University of the Balearic Islands.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Nutrition and Biotechnology, Universitat de les Illes Balears and CIBER de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Cra Valldemossa Km 7.5, E-07122, Palma de Mallorca, Spain

    Paula Oliver, Bàrbara Reynés, Antoni Caimari & Andreu Palou

  2. Centre Tecnològic de Nutrició i Salut (CTNS), TECNIO, CEICS, Reus, Spain

    Antoni Caimari

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  1. Paula Oliver
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Correspondence to Paula Oliver.

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Oliver, P., Reynés, B., Caimari, A. et al. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells: a potential source of homeostatic imbalance markers associated with obesity development. Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol 465, 459–468 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-013-1246-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-013-1246-8

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