Effects of metformin on metabolism of white and brown adipose tissue in obese C57BL/6J mice

BACKGROUND: To investigate effects of metformin on the regulation of proteins of white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT) in obesity and explore the underlying mechanisms on energy metabolism. METHODS: C57BL/6J mice were fed with normal diet (ND, n = 6) or high-fat diet (HFD, n = 12) for 22 weeks. HFD-induced obese mice were treated with metformin (MET, n = 6). After treatment for 8 weeks, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and hyperinsulinemic–euglycemic clamp were performed to evaluate the improvement of glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. Protein expressions of WAT and BAT in mice among ND, HFD, and MET group were identified and quantified with isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) coupled with 2D LC–MS/MS. The results were analyzed by MASCOT, Scaffold and IPA. RESULTS: The glucose infusion rate in MET group was increased significantly compared with HFD group. We identified 4388 and 3486 proteins in WAT and BAT, respectively. As compared MET to HFD, differential expressed proteins in WAT and BAT were mainly assigned to the pathways of EIF2 signaling and mitochondrial dysfunction, respectively. In the pathways, CPT1a in WAT, CPT1b and CPT2 in BAT were down-regulated by metformin significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Metformin improved the body weight and insulin sensitivity of obese mice. Meanwhile, metformin might ameliorate endoplasmic reticulum stress in WAT, and affect fatty acid metabolism in WAT and BAT. CPT1 might be a potential target of metformin in WAT and BAT.