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The prevalence of obesity and associated diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, are accelerating worldwide and require urgent attention. Many of the obesity-related morbidities are likely to originate from a state of chronic low-grade inflammation accompanying the increasing adipose mass. In order to investigate the relationship between obesity, inflammation and insulin resistance, we ran an experiment feeding mice a high fat/high sucrose diet supplemented with the antiinflammatory cyclooxygenase-inhibitor, indomethacin. We saw that indomethacin prevented diet-induced obesity and glucose intolerance, but not insulin resistance. The development of obesity is largely dependent on an imbalance in energy intake relative to expenditure. Thus, strategies that influence energy utilization is of relevance in anti-obesity treatment. High protein diets, in general, have shown promise in reducing and maintaining bodyweight, but less is established when it comes to different protein sources. Here, we present results from experiments investigating the effect of various protein sources given to mice in different dietary compositions. We report striking differences between various protein sources in relation to the development of obesity, insulin resistance and hepatic lipid accumulation. Casein protein, despite being the regular protein source used in experimental diets for rodents, seems to provide strong protection against obesity. This was, at least in part, due to the maintenance of a classical interscapular brown depot with high expression of UCP1 in these mice. Conversely, proteins from terrestrial animals promoted gain of adipose mass, hyperinsulinemia and impaired glucose tolerance. In addition, when combined in a typical Western diet, the lean protein source, pork, seemed to promote obesity. However, this was attenuated when pork was exchanged for cod. Reduced feed-intake in the cod-fed mice could provid

Chronic low grade inflammation is closely linked to obesity-associated insulin resistance. To examine how administration of the anti-inflammatory compound indomethacin, a general cyclooxygenase inhibitor, affected obesity development and insulin sensitivity, we fed obesity-prone male C57BL/6J mice a high fat/high sucrose (HF/HS) diet or a regular diet supplemented or not with indomethacin (±INDO) for 7 weeks. Development of obesity, insulin resistance, and glucose intolerance was monitored, and the effect of indomethacin on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) was measured in vivo and in vitro using MIN6 β-cells. We found that supplementation with indomethacin prevented HF/HS-induced obesity and diet-induced changes in systemic insulin sensitivity. Thus, HF/HS+INDO-fed mice remained insulin-sensitive. However, mice fed HF/HS+INDO exhibited pronounced glucose intolerance. Hepatic glucose output was significantly increased. Indomethacin had no effect on adipose tissue mass, glucose tolerance, or GSIS when included in a regular diet. Indomethacin administration to obese mice did not reduce adipose tissue mass, and the compensatory increase in GSIS observed in obese mice was not affected by treatment with indomethacin. We demonstrate that indomethacin did not inhibit GSIS per se, but activation of GPR40 in the presence of indomethacin inhibited glucose-dependent insulin secretion in MIN6 cells. We conclude that constitutive high hepatic glucose output combined with impaired GSIS in response to activation of GPR40-dependent signaling in the HF/HS+INDO-fed mice contributed to the impaired glucose clearance during a glucose challenge and that the resulting lower levels of plasma insulin prevented the obesogenic action of the HF/HS diet.

Brown adipocytes have the ability to uncouple the respiratory chain in mitochondria and dissipate chemical energy as heat. Development of UCP1-positive brown adipocytes in white adipose tissues (so called beige or brite cells) is highly induced by a variety of environmental cues such as chronic cold exposure or by PPARγ agonists, therefore, this cell type has potential as a therapeutic target for obesity treatment. Although most immortalized adipocyte lines cannot recapitulate the process of "browning" of white fat in culture, primary adipocytes isolated from stromal vascular fraction in subcutaneous white adipose tissue (WAT) provide a reliable cellular system to study the molecular control of beige/brite cell development. Here we describe a protocol for effective isolation of primary preadipocytes and for inducing differentiation to beige/brite cells in culture. The browning effect can be assessed by the expression of brown fat-selective markers such as UCP1.