Effects of high-fat feeding on growth and expression of IGF-1 and IRS-1 in adolescent rats

Abstract

Objective To observe the effects of high-fat feeding on growth and the expression of insulin-like growth factor 1(IGF-1), insulin receptor substrate 1(IRS-1) in adolescent rats' liver with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and to elucidate the relationship between growth failure in adolescent rats with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and IGF-1, IRS-1 turbulence. Methods Thirty-six Sprague-Dawley (SD) young rats of 21 days were randomly divided into normal control group(NC group, n=18) and high-fat feeding group(HF group, n=18). Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) model was induced by feeding the SD rats with high-fat food.Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect the expression levels of IGF-1 and IRS-1 in liver tissue.The expressions of mRNA of IGF-1 and IRS-1 were measured by RT-PCR. Results Compared with NC group, the serum alanine amino transferase(ALT), total cholesterol(TC), triglyceride(TG) of HF group in the 6th, 8th, 12th week were gradually increased.The serum ALT[(194.67±11.15)U/L], TC[(1.81±0.09)mmol/L], TG[(0.34±0.05)mmol/L]contents of HF group at 8th week were higher than those at 6th week[(166.00±22.01)U/L, (1.52±0.22)mmol/L, (0.41±0.12)mmol/L, respectively], and the serum ALT[(213.0±27.67)U/L], TC[(2.15±0.37)mmol/L], TG[(0.38±0.15)mmol/L]contents of the 12th week were significantly increased compared with 6th week and 8th week.The constitution and body length of the HF group were lower than those of the normal control group.With time extended, the liver tissue steatosis, inflammation, the balloon like change of the liver tissue pathology of HF group in 6, 8, 12th week gradually increased.Immunohistochemistry results showed that HF group IRS-1[(1.46±0.23), (0.74±0.17), (0.85±0.31)], IGF-1[(0.92±0.02), (0.83±0.02), (0.77±0.03)]expression gradually decreased, the difference was statistically significant(F=36.024, P<0.05). IGF-1 and IRS-1 mRNA expressions in HF group were consistent. Conclusion The liver tissue IGF-1 and IRS-1 are correlated with the weight and body length.The growth failure of young rats induced by high-fat feeding may be related to the decreased expression of IGF-1 and IRS-1. Key words: Fatty liver; Dietary fats, unsaturated; Insulin-like growth factor 1; Insulin receptor substrate proteins