Adipose tissue functional changes during postnatal development and impact of high-fat diet feeding on adipose and liver tissue

Caloric intake increased over a long period of time may induce the development of obesity, causing so-called low-grade inflammation. The organism responses to the inflammation by the activation and production of cellular components of the immune system, such as macrophages or proinflammatory cytokines. The adipose tissue itself is involved in the production of bioactive molecules, including leptin and adiponectin. Increased concentration of proinflammatory cytokines can lead to a dysfunction of important metabolic pathways and impair organ's function. For the purpose of closer knowledge of the etiology of obesity and its metabolic complications, inbred strains of mice with different genetic backround are most commonly used. We aimed to define the impact of high-fat diet (HFD) on adipose and liver tissue of C57BL/6J and A/J murine strains with a different susceptibility to diet-induced obesity. We focused on description of morphological and functional changes of adipose tissue and on the evaluation of plasma leptin and adiponectin levels of mice in the early postnatal development. Next, we measured the expression of leptin mRNA in four tissues. In this study we described how the increased caloric intake leads to increased triacylglycerides (TAG) storage in the liver and to a higher inflammatory..