Abstract
The pandemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes have become a concern of public health. Nutrition plays a key role in these concerns. Insulin as an anabolic hormonal was discovered exactly 100 years ago due to its activity in controlling blood glucose level. Vitamin A (VA), a lipophilic micronutrient, has been shown to regulate glucose and fat metabolism. VA’s physiological roles are mainly mediated by its metabolite, retinoic acid (RA), which activates retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs), which are two transcription factors. The VA status and activations of RARs and RXRs by RA and synthetic agonists have shown to affect the glucose and lipid metabolism in animal models. Both insulin and RA signaling systems regulate the expression levels of genes involved in the regulation of hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism. Interactions of insulin and RA signaling systems have been observed. This review is aimed at summarizing the history of diabetes, insulin and VA signaling systems; the effects of VA status and activation of RARs and RXRs on metabolism and RAR and RXR phosphorylation; and possible interactions of insulin and RA in the regulation of hepatic genes for glucose and lipid metabolism. In addition, some future research perspectives for understanding of nutrient and hormone interactions are provided.
Highlights
In 2019, 463 million people had diabetes mellitus, which is one in eleven adults (20–70 years) worldwide [1]
We have shown that the Vitamin A (VA) from the diet for VA deficient (VAD) rats and from the hepatic storage in VA sufficient (VAS) rats contribute to the induction of Gck mRNA and GK protein expression [65], which supports our original observation that retinoids synergize with insulin to induce Gck mRNA in primary hepatocytes [69]
VA’s role in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism has been gradually revealed. Both VA status and retinoic acid (RA) treatments have shown their effects on metabolism in animal models
Summary
In 2019, 463 million people had diabetes mellitus, which is one in eleven adults (20–70 years) worldwide [1]. Insulin has been found to regulate glucose and lipid metabolism in cells, and the alterations of these functions contribute to development of insulin resistance and T2DM [13]. These regulations of glucose and lipid metabolism can be partially attributed to insulin-regulated gene expression in the targeted cells [14,15,16]. The goal of this review is to discuss this interaction in the liver and hepatocytes This may help the field to understand more about the role of VA in the regulation of glucose and lipid metabolism.
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