The Effects of high fat diets with and without N-Acetylcysteine supplementation on the lipin-1 levels of serum and various tissues in rats

Objective: Obesity is a public health problem, but the struggle against obesity continues to increase every day. Lipin-1 is an adipokine that modulates lipid metabolism and glucose homeostasis. The aims of the current study were to compare the levels of lipin-1 in serum and tissues (liver, lung, heart, pancreas and kidney) in rat fed with low fat diet (LFD), high fat diet (HFD) and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) supplemented HFD, and to determine the relationships of the lipin-1 levels in serum and tissues with the levels of serum glucose and lipid parameters. Methods: 18 male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups: LFD group (n=6), HFD group (n=6) and the NAC-supplemented HFD (HFD+NAC) group (n=6). The feeding period of the diets was 85 days. The lipin-1 levels in serum and tissues were determined by using Rat ELISA kit. Results: In comparison to serum lipin-1 levels in HFD group were significantly lower, but heart lipin-1 levels were significantly higher (P<0.017). On the other hand, it was determined that serum and tissue lipin-1 levels were not influenced by NAC supplementation. In addition, no other significant difference in lipin-1 levels of the other tissues among the groups was found. Conclusion: This study showed that HDF affected serum and heart lipin-1 levels, while NAC supplementation did not affect on the lipin-1 levels of serum and of the tissues.