Comparison of Hormones, Lipoproteins and Substrates in Blood Plasma in a C57bl6 Mouse Strain after Starvation and a High Fat Diet: A Metabolomics Approach

Abstract

Male C57bl6 mice (age 8-12 weeks) were fed a high-fat diet, containing 0.25% cholesterol (Ch) and 24% energy from bovine lard for a period of approximately 40 days or were exposed to 24 hours of starvation. Exposure to 24 hours of starvation, resulted in a significant drop in plasma glucose (1.8-fold), Phospholipids (PL) (1.2-fold), Triacylglycerols (TG) (1.4-fold), Total Cholesterol (TCh) (1.4-fold), Free cholesterol (FCh) (1.4-fold) and a significant increase in Ketone bodies (9.6-fold). After 24 hours of starvation plasma Very Low Density Lipoproteins- (VLDL), Low Density Lipoproteins-(LDL) and High Density Lipoproteins-(HDL) TCh and-Phospholipids (PL) were unaffected, while VLDL TG was significantly decreased and LDL and HDL TG significantly increased. Plasma Free Fatty Acids (FFA) and Insulin were unaffected. In the high-fat diet group plasma VLDL-, LDL- and HDL-TCh and -PL were significantly increased as compared to the values on regular chow diet before starting the diet-feeding period. Furthermore, a significant rise in VLDL-TG was found. The high fat diet resulted in significantly elevated levels of plasma TCh (2.9-fold), FCh (3.4-fold), PL (2.5-fold) and Insulin (4.4-fold) compared to the Control group that was fed regular chow diet, while glucose and Free Fatty Acids (FFA) levels were unaffected. The increase in Insulin as a result of a fatty diet may be indicative for increased insulin insensitivity.