Short-Term Fasting Reveals Amino Acid Metabolism as a Major Sex-Discriminating Factor in the Liver
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2018
Citazione:
Short-Term Fasting Reveals Amino Acid Metabolism as a Major Sex-Discriminating Factor in the Liver / S. Della Torre, N. Mitro, C. Meda, F. Lolli, S. Pedretti, M. Barcella, L. Ottobrini, D. Metzger, D. Caruso, A. Maggi. - In: CELL METABOLISM. - ISSN 1550-4131. - 28(2018 Aug 07), pp. 256-267.
Abstract:
Sex impacts on liver physiology with severe consequences for energy metabolism and response to xenobiotic, hepatic, and extra-hepatic diseases. The comprehension of the biology subtending sex-related hepatic differences is therefore very relevant in the medical, pharmacological, and dietary perspective. The extensive application of metabolomics paired to transcriptomics here shows that, in the case of short-term fasting, the decision to maintain lipid synthesis using amino acids (aa) as a source of fuel is the key discriminant for the hepatic metabolism of male and female mice. Pharmacological and genetic interventions indicate that the hepatic estrogen receptor (ERα) has a key role in this sex-related strategy that is primed around birth by the aromatase-dependent conversion of testosterone into estradiol. This energy partition strategy, possibly the result of an evolutionary pressure enabling mammals to tailor their reproductive capacities to nutritional status, is most important to direct future sex-specific dietary and medical interventions. Della Torre et al. show a major sex difference in the hepatic response to short-term fasting: females maintain the synthesis of energy storage molecules (lipids) at the expense of amino acids, and males simply slow down anabolic pathways. The mechanism is mediated by liver estrogen receptor alpha.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
amino acids; estrogen receptor alpha; lipids; liver; metabolism; metabolome; reproduction; sex differences; transcriptome; physiology; molecular biology; cell biology
Elenco autori:
S. Della Torre, N. Mitro, C. Meda, F. Lolli, S. Pedretti, M. Barcella, L. Ottobrini, D. Metzger, D. Caruso, A. Maggi
Link alla scheda completa:
Link al Full Text: