CTRP3 and Alcoholic Liver Disease in Female Mice

Author

Callie RootFollow

Honors Program

University Honors

Date of Award

5-2020

Thesis Professor(s)

Jonathan M. Peterson

Thesis Professor Department

Health Sciences

Thesis Reader(s)

Allan Forsman

Abstract

C1q TNF Related Protein 3 (CTRP3), is a cytokine that is primarily secreted from adipose tissue, which classifies it as an adipokine. Our previous research has shown that CTRP3 prevents alcoholic fatty liver disease (ALD) in male mice. However, even when accounting for confounding factors such as absolute and relative alcohol intake, females are more sensitive to the effects of consumption compared to male mice. Therefore, the goal of this project was to determine whether CTRP3 prevented ALD in female mice. Methods: Female wild type (WT) and female CTRP3 transgenic over expressing (Tg) mice were fed an ethanol containing liquid diet (5% v/v) for 6 weeks. Daily weight and food intake measurements were taken and external heat-pads were placed under a portion of the cage to facilitate thermoregulation. Hepatic steatosis was determined by total triglyceride quantification and lipid droplet quantitation in liver sections. Data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA, t-test, or Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test as appropriate. Results: There was no difference between WT and Tg mice in food intake or body weight. There was no difference in survival between WT and Tg mice, however, Tg mice trended towards a reduced rate of survival compared with WT mice (78% in WT versus 44% in Tg, p=0.13). Stereological analysis indicated no difference in the percent of lipid liver volume between the two groups (WT 7.2±3.6 vs Tg 5.1±4.1%). This finding was consistent with no difference in total hepatic triglyceride accumulation observed between WT and Tg mice (12.7±4.4 vs. 13.1±6.8 mg triglycerides/gram liver protein). Conclusion: Combined these data indicate that unlike previous studies with male mice, CTRP3 is not protective against alcohol-induced hepatic steatosis in female mice. Combined, these data indicate that the adipokines such as CTRP3 contribute to physiology in a sex-specific manner.

Publisher

East Tennessee State University

Document Type

Honors Thesis - Withheld

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Root, Callie, "CTRP3 and Alcoholic Liver Disease in Female Mice" (2020). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 541. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/541

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.