Abstract
Intermuscular adipose tissue is located between the muscle fiber bundles in skeletal muscles, and has similar metabolic features to visceral adipose tissue, which has been found to be related to a number of obesity-related diseases. Although various miRNAs are known to play crucial roles in adipose deposition and adipogenesis, the microRNA transcriptome of intermuscular adipose tissue has not, until now, been studied. Here, we sequenced the miRNA transcriptomes of porcine intermuscular adipose tissue by small RNA-sequencing and compared it to a representative subcutaneous adipose tissue. We found that the inflammation- and diabetes-related miRNAs were significantly enriched in the intermuscular rather than in the subcutaneous adipose tissue. A functional enrichment analysis of the genes predicted to be targeted by the enriched miRNAs also indicated that intermuscular adipose tissue was associated mainly with immune and inflammation responses. Our results suggest that the intermuscular adipose tissue should be recognized as a potential metabolic risk factor of obesity.
Highlights
Adipose tissues (ATs) play a vital role in energy homeostasis and process the largest energy reserve in the body of animals
The target genes of the subcutaneous adipose tissue (sASAT)-enriched miRNAs were mainly associated with lipid and energy metabolism, such as “glycerophospholipid metabolic process” (46 genes, p = 5.10 × 10−18), “lipid biosynthetic process” (38 genes, p = 7.36 × 10−6), “glucose metabolic process” (16 genes, p = 1.53 × 10−2) and “Wnt signaling pathway” (20 genes, p = 5.27 × 10−4) (Figure 3). These results further suggested that while sASAT is mainly involved in metabolic homeostasis, intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) is susceptive to inflammation and should be regarded as a potential metabolic risk factor
We found that inflammationand diabetes-related miRNAs were enriched in IMAT compared with sASAT, which indicated the metabolic risk of the IMAT
Summary
Adipose tissues (ATs) play a vital role in energy homeostasis and process the largest energy reserve in the body of animals. Recent studies have revealed that the intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT), which is located between the muscle fiber bundles in skeletal muscles, has similar functional and metabolic features as the visceral ATs [7,8]. The sASAT-enriched miRNAs were related mainly to lipid metabolic homeostasis, while the IMAT-enriched miRNAs were related mainly to inflammation and diabetes, and the target genes of the IMAT-enriched miRNAs were primarily associated with inflammatory and diabetes processes. Together, these findings indicated the metabolic risk of IMAT. Our results will contribute to studies into the role of IMAT in obesity-related metabolic disease
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