Figure 1

Hyperlipidemia occurs during fasting without changes in Glu levels in TXNIP-KO male mice. (a) Change of body weight was examined and shown by dot plots, revealing that WT and male TXNIP-KO mice lost weight after 24-h fasting and weight loss was more prominent in TXNIP-KO female mice (three mice per group). (b) TXNIP-KO female mice were vulnerable to fasting stress (six mice per group). (c–h) Laboratory data were collected from WT and TXNIP-KO mice in fed or fasted state and shown by dot plots; medians and 10–90 percentiles were also shown for each dot plot graph (six mice for male group and four mice for female group). (c,d) Despite Glu levels were statistically lower in female TXNIP-KO mice compared with female WT mice in fasted state, no statistical difference in Glu levels was found between WT and male TXNIP-KO mice in the fasted state. Serum insulin levels also showed no obvious difference between WT and TXNIP-KO mice (both in male and female mice), but serum insulin levels may be high in TXNIP-KO female mice when taking low blood Glu levels into account. (e) Serum Glu and insulin levels of TXNIP-KO male mice in fed state, or after 24-h or 48-h fasting. Although serum Glu level decreased to remarkably lower levels, serum insulin levels were relatively stable in TXNIP-KO mice compared with WT mice, indicating an impairment in the regulation of serum insulin level in response to serum glucose level in TXNIP-KO mice. (f,g) Although serum TG and TCH levels tended to be stable or decrease in WT mice, these values tended to increase in TXNIP-KO mice during fasting, and statistical differences were found in TG and TCH levels between WT and male TXNIP-KO mice and in TG between WT and female TXNIP-KO mice. (h) Serum ALT levels were measured. Although one mouse in WT and TXNIP-KO male mice showed highly increased serum ALT levels, serum ALT levels overall were stable in WT and TXNIP-KO male mice. In female mice, TXNIP-KO female mice tended to show increased serum ALT during fasted state. Reference values (mean ± SD) for male Glu, female Glu, male TG, female TG, male TCH, and female TCH were 306 ± 47 (mg/dL), 302 ± 33 (mg/dL), 104 ± 31 (mg/dL), 104 ± 33 (mg/dL), 91 ± 11 (mg/dL), 79 ± 19 (mg/dL) respectively. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01. WT wild-type, KO knockout, TXNIP thioredoxin-interacting protein, Glu glucose, TG triglyceride, FFA free fatty acid, TCH total cholesterol, ALT alanine transaminase, SD standard deviation.