Frequent non‐nutritive sweetener intake alters the expression of endocannabinoid receptors in liver and pancreas in mice

Abstract

The endocannabinoid system plays a major role in the regulation of systemic energy balance, including the modulation of hepatic and pancreatic homeostasis, which is relevant for energy metabolism. Nutritional alterations such as consumption of hypercaloric diets associated with development of obesity promote alterations in hepatic and pancreatic functions and also affect endocannabinoid‐dependent signaling. Non‐nutritive sweeteners have been extensively used to decrease calorie intake from diet and inhibit development of chronic non‐transmissible diseases like obesity and type II diabetes; nonetheless, there is accumulating evidence that these compounds may have additional metabolic effects of clinical significance. The objective of this study is to determine alterations in the expression of CB1 and CB2 endocannabinoid receptors in liver and pancreas of adult mice supplemented with the commercially available non‐nutritive sweeteners sucralose and steviol glycosides, daily, for 6 weeks. After supplementation, hepatic and pancreatic expression of CB1 and CB2 receptors is evaluated by western blot and immunofluorescence. Preliminary results show increased expression of CB1 receptors in male animals supplemented with sucralose, whereas a similar effect is observed in female mice supplemented with sucrose, compared to non‐supplemented controls. In contrast, CB2 expression is increased in male animals supplemented with steviol glycosides and no significant changes have been observed for CB2 expression in females. So far, our results suggest that frequent consumption of non‐nutritive sweeteners alter the expression of endocannabinoid receptors in liver and pancreas in vivo, which may affect the activity of metabolic routes involved in the regulation of systemic energy balance.