BioProject

Our previous studies have linked Trans-fat and monosodium glutamate (MSG) to the development of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). More...

Our previous studies have linked Trans-fat and monosodium glutamate (MSG) to the development of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD). We have also shown that MSG can interact with another commonly consumed food additive, aspartame, to impair glucose homeostasis, which is also disrupted in NAFLD. This most recent nutrigenomic study shows how aspartame, MSG and Trans-fat can unfavorably alter hepatic and adipose tissue gene expression. We used microarray analysis to examine changes in liver gene transcription in response to TFA MSG and/or ASP feeding in male C57Bl/6J mice. Overall design: Our study animals were bred from female C57Bl/6J mice fed a standard chow diet until 6 weeks of age whereupon they were placed on one of 4 different dietary regimens for a period of 3 weeks prior to mating. The four dietary regimens used in this study were: [1] TFA diet: consisting of 20% (w/w) Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Shortening (Test Diet #5C4M containing 8.68% w/w Trans fatty acids; Test Diet Purina, USA), with ad lib drinking water. [2] MSG+TFA diet: TFA diet with ad lib drinking water containing 0.75 g/L of L -Glutamic acid monosodium salt hydrate (MSG catalog G1626 Sigma Aldrich). [3] ASP+TFA diet: (TFA diet with ad lib drinking water containing 0.25 g/L Asp-Phe methyl ester (aspartame, ASP, catalog A5139 Sigma Aldrich). [4] ASP+MSG+TFA diet: TFA diet with ad lib drinking water containing 0.25 g/L aspartame and 0.75 g/L monosodium glutamate. After the 3-week period of adjustment to the respective diets, 15 male offspring were bred, weaned and maintained on these diets for the duration of the study. Offspring were weaned at 4 weeks of age . Liver tissue (15 per diet group) were used at 20 weeks for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. Less...