Short-term lingonberry feeding is associated with decreased insulin levels and altered adipose tissue function in high-fat diet fed C57BL/6J mice

Abstract

• High-fat diet supplemented with Lingonberry reduces body weight gain in mice. • Adipocytes isolated from lingonberry-fed mice display increased lipolysis. • Mitochondrial dynamics are altered in adipose tissue from mice fed lingonberries. • Mice fed lingonberries have lower plasma insulin levels. Intact adipose tissue function is essential to maintain glucose and lipid homeostasis. To study the impact of altered adipose tissue function on whole-body metabolism, diet-induced obesity in mice is frequently used as a model organism. In the current study, we have examined health-promoting effects of a lingonberry supplemented diet. We found C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat diet supplemented with lingonberry for 4 days to have significantly lowered body-weight gain, adipose tissue expansion, and reduced insulin levels, compared to mice fed an isocaloric high-fat diet. RNA-Seq analysis of epididymal adipose tissue revealed differential expression of genes related to mitochondria fission ( Mief1, Dnm1, Vps35, and Opa1 ). Further, we detected increased gene expression and phosphorylation of perilipin-1 (pS522), and increased lipolysis in primary adipocytes from lingonberry-fed mice. Together, these data pinpoint that beneficial effects of a lingonberry enriched diet are rapidly detectable and that the adipose tissue constitutes a target for these effects.