Positive association between musclin and insulin resistance in obesity: evidence of a human study and an animal experiment

Abstract Background Musclin is a novel skeletal muscle-derived secretory factor considered to be a potent regulator of the glucose metabolism and therefore may contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity and insulin resistance (IR). Methods To test this hypothesis, we examined the plasma musclin levels in overweight/obese subjects and lean controls. Rats on a high fat diet (HFD) were used as the annimal model of obesity. Radioimmunoassay and western blot were used to determine musclin levels in plasma and skeletal muscle. Results According to radioimmunoassays,the overweight/obese subjects exhibited elevated musclin plasma levels compared with the lean controls (89.49 ± 19.00 ng/L vs 80.39 ± 16.35 ng/L, P