Name: assessing whole-body lipid-handling capacity in mice
Uploaded: 2020-11-24T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Assessing Whole-Body Lipid-Handling Capacity in Mice at JoVE.com

This work is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant R00-DK114498, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), grant CRIS: 3092-51000-062 to Y. Z.

Animals are housed in standardized conditions following animal-care and experimental protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). Animals are fed a standard or special diet, water ad libitum, and kept with a 12-hour day/night cycle.
1. Measuring of fasting serum lipids
<ol>
	<li>Transfer mice to a new cage after 5 PM and fast with free access to water, overnight (with around 16 hours of fasting before the experiment). The over...

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The three assays described function robustly in the lab, with a few critical considerations. Overnight fasting is required for determining fasting serum lipid levels and oral intralipid tolerance test. For oral intralipid tolerance test, it is critical to spin the blood at room temperature to minimize the formation of a fat layer, especially at the 1- and 2-hour time points; it is important not to discard this fat layer if it forms. Make sure to transfer the supernatant with the lipid layer, and pipet gently to mix them ...

Carbohydrates and lipids are two major substrates for energy metabolism. Aberrant lipid metabolism results in many human diseases, including type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, fatty liver diseases, and cancers. Dietary lipids, mainly triglycerides, are absorbed through the intestine into the lymphatic system and enter the venous circulation in chylomicrons near the heart1. Lipids are carried by lipoprotein particles in the bloodstream, where the fatty acid moieties are liberated by the action of lipoprotein lipase at peripheral organs such as muscle and adipose tissue2. The remaining cholesterol-rich remnant particles are cleared by the liver3. Mice have been widely used in laboratories as a research model to study lipid metabolism. With comprehensive genetic toolsets available and a relatively short breeding cycle, they are a powerful model for studying how lipids are absorbed, synthesized, and metabolized.
Due to the complexity of lipid metabolism, sophisticated lipidomics studies or isotopic tracer studies are usually used to quantify collections of lipid species or lipid-related metabolic fluxes and fates4,5. This creates a massive challenge for researchers without specialized equipment or expertise. In this paper, we present three assays that can serve as initial tests before technically challenging techniques are used. They are non-terminal procedures for the mice, and thus very useful for identifying potential differences in lipid-handling capacity and narrowing down the processes affected.
First, measuring fasting serum lipid molecules can help one ascertain a mouse&#8217;s overall lipid profile. Mice should be fasted, because many lipid species rise after meals, and the extent of the increase is strongly affected by the composition of the diet. Many lipid molecules, including total cholesterol, triglyceride, and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), can be measured using a commercial kit and a plate reader that can read absorbance.
Second, an oral intralipid tolerance test evaluates lipid-handling capability as a net effect of absorption and metabolism. An orally administered intralipid&#160;causes a spike in circulating triglyceride levels (1&#8211;2 hours), after which the serum triglyceride levels&#160;return to basal levels (4&#8211;6&#160;hours). This assay offers information about how well a mouse can handle the exogenous lipids. Heart, liver, and brown adipose tissue are active consumers of triglycerides, whereas white adipose tissue stores it as an energy reserve. Changes in these functions will lead to differences in the test results.
Lastly, promoting lipolysis to mobilize stored lipids is considered a possible strategy for weight loss. The &#946;3-adrenergic receptor signaling pathway in the adipose tissue plays an important role in adipocyte lipolysis, and human genetics have identified a loss-of-function polymorphism Trp64Arg in &#946;3-adrenergic receptor&#160;correlated with obesity6. CL 316,243, a specific and potent &#946;3-adrenergic receptor agonist, stimulates adipose tissue lipolysis and the release of glycerol. Evaluation of a mouse&#8217;s response to CL 316,243 can provide valuable information on the development, improvement, and understanding of the efficacy of the compound.
Collectively, these tests can be used as an initial screen for changes in the lipid metabolic state of mice. They are chosen for the accessibility of the instruments and reagents. With the results derived from these assays, researchers can form an overall picture of the metabolic fitness of their animals and decide on more sophisticated and targeted approaches.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>20% Intralipid</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>I141</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>BD Slip Tip Sterile Syringes 1ml</td>
			<td>Shaotong</td>
			<td>B07F1KRMYN</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CL 316,243 Hydrate</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>C5976</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Curved Feeding Needles (18 Gauge)</td>
			<td>Kent Scientific</td>
			<td>FNC-18-2-2</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Free Glycerol Reagent</td>
			<td>Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td>F6428</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glycerol Standard Solution</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>G7793</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HR SERIES NEFA-HR(2)COLOR REAGENT A</td>
			<td>Fujifilm Wako Diagnostics</td>
			<td>999-34691</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HR SERIES NEFA-HR(2)COLOR REAGENT B</td>
			<td>Fujifilm Wako Diagnostics</td>
			<td>991-34891</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HR SERIES NEFA-HR(2)SOLVENT A</td>
			<td>Fujifilm Wako Diagnostics</td>
			<td>995-34791</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>HR SERIES NEFA-HR(2)SOLVENT B</td>
			<td>Fujifilm Wako Diagnostics</td>
			<td>993-35191</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ketamine</td>
			<td>Vedco</td>
			<td>50989-161-06</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Matrix Plus Chemistry Reference Kit</td>
			<td>Verichem</td>
			<td>9500</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Micro Centrifuge Tubes</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>14-222-168</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Microhematrocrit Capillary Tube, Not Heparanized</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>22-362-574</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NEFA STANDARD SOLUTION</td>
			<td>Fujifilm Wako Diagnostics</td>
			<td>276-76491</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Phosphate Buffered Saline</td>
			<td>Boston Bioproducts</td>
			<td>BM-220</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Thermo Scientific Triglycerides Reagent</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>TR22421</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Total Cholesterol Reagents</td>
			<td>Thermo Scientifi</td>
			<td>TR13421</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Xylazine</td>
			<td>Henry Schein</td>
			<td>11695-4022-1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

assessing whole-body lipid-handling capacity in mice

Assessing lipid metabolism is a cornerstone of evaluating metabolic function, and it is considered essential for in vivo metabolism studies. Lipids are a class of many different molecules with many pathways involved in their synthesis and metabolism. A starting point for evaluating lipid hemostasis for nutrition and obesity research is needed. This paper describes three easy and accessible methods that require little expertise or practice to master, and that can be adapted by most labs to screen for lipid-metabolism abnormalities in mice. These methods are (1) measuring several fasting serum lipid molecules using commercial kits (2) assaying for dietary lipid-handling capability through an oral intralipid tolerance test, and (3) evaluating the response to a pharmaceutical compound, CL 316,243, in mice. Together, these methods will provide a high-level overview of lipid handling capability in mice.

We show with three excerpts that each assay offers valuable information about the mice&#39;s lipid metabolism. For C57BL/6J male mice, challenged by eight weeks of high-fat diet (HFD) feeding&#160; starting at eight weeks of age, total cholesterol levels were significantly elevated, while serum triglyyceride and NEFA were not (Table 1), suggesting that triglyceride and NEFA in the blood are not predominantly regulated by a dietary fat challenge. In the second cohort of mice, C57BL/6J and C57BL6/N&#160;su...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Assessing Whole-Body Lipid-Handling Capacity in Mice at JoVE.com

Assessing Whole-Body Lipid-Handling Capacity in Mice

This paper provides three easy and accessible assays for assessing lipid metabolism in mice.

Assessing lipid metabolism is a cornerstone of evaluating metabolic function, and it is considered essential for in vivo metabolism studies. Lipids are a ...

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