posted on 2017-02-06, 23:35authored byRuzaidi Azli Mohd Mokhtar
The perilipin (PLIN)
family of proteins reside on, or near, intracellular lipid droplets and play a
major role in the regulation of lipid metabolism in most tissues. PLIN5 is
highly expressed in tissues that have a high capacity for fatty acid
metabolism, especially skeletal muscle. However, there is very limited
knowledge about the function of PLIN5 in skeletal muscle. Therefore, the aims
of this thesis were to delineate the role of PLIN5 on substrate metabolism in
muscle. Accordingly, we generated whole-body Plin5-/- mice to determine PLIN5’s
involvement in lipid metabolism and insulin action in chapter 2. Loss of PLIN5
had no effect on body weight, feeding or adiposity but increased whole-body
carbohydrate oxidation. Plin5-/- mice developed skeletal muscle insulin
resistance, which was associated with increased intramyocellular triglyceride
lipolysis and ceramide accumulation. Liver insulin sensitivity was improved in Plin5-/-
mice, indicating tissue-specific effects of PLIN5 on insulin action. Thus, we
conclude that PLIN5 plays a critical role in coordinating skeletal muscle
triacylglycerol metabolism, which impacts sphingolipid metabolism, and is
requisite for the maintenance of skeletal muscle insulin action.
In chapter 3, we successfully generated mice with
muscle-specific ablation of PLIN5 (Plin5MKO) in order to investigate the
effects of muscle-specific PLIN5 deletion on energy homeostasis, muscle
metabolism and glucose tolerance in vivo. There was an increase in whole-body
fatty acid oxidation and reciprocal decrease in carbohydrate oxidation in
Plin5MKO mice. Intriguingly, fatty acid and glucose oxidation were not
different between genotypes when assessed in skeletal muscle ex vivo. The
mismatch between the in vivo and ex vivo studies of fatty acid oxidation
indicate that PLIN5 deletion in skeletal muscle may alter endocrine signaling
to modulate whole body metabolism. In mice fed a HFD, glucose tolerance was markedly
enhanced in Plin5MKO compared with control (lox/lox) mice and this was
associated with increased glucose clearance without changes in endogenous
glucose production. We proposed that this may be caused by an increase in
non-insulin stimulated glucose clearance.
Lastly, we studied the role of PLIN5 in the regulation of
skeletal muscle substrate metabolism during acute exercise. We also assessed
whether PLIN5 is required for the metabolic adaptations and enhancement in
exercise tolerance following endurance exercise training. Using Plin5MKO mice,
we showed that PLIN5 is dispensable for normal substrate metabolism during
exercise as reflected by levels of blood metabolites and rates of glycogen and
triglyceride depletion that were indistinguishable from lox/lox mice. Plin5MKO
mice exhibited a functional impairment in their response to endurance exercise
training as reflected by reduced maximal running capacity and reduced time to
fatigue during prolonged submaximal exercise. The reduction in exercise performance
was not accompanied by alterations in carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism
during submaximal exercise. Similarly, mitochondrial capacity and mitochondrial
function was not different between lox/lox and Plin5MKO mice. Thus, PLIN5 is
dispensable for normal substrate metabolism during exercise and is not required
to promote mitochondrial biogenesis or enhance the cellular adaptations to
endurance-exercise training. Together, the work in this thesis extends our
understanding of the important role of PLIN5 in skeletal muscle metabolism.