Morphological Examination for Animal Metabolism: an Effectiveness on an Analysis of Phenotypical Alteration in Adipose Tissue of Diacylglycerol Kinase ε-KO Mice

Abstract

Morphological technique is a robust tool to investigate metabolism in animals. Here, I introduce my research on the functional analysis of diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) in the adipose tissue. This article may help readers recognize a significance of the classical morphological technique to analyze metabolic organs. We have investigated that phenotypical alteration of DGKε-KO mice during the course of high fat diet (HFD) feeding regimen. At an early phase of feeding (40 days), DGKε-KO mice show obesity and insulin resistance. Histological observation revealed that DGKε-deficiency leads to adipocyte size enlargement, and induces inflammatory reactions in the visceral adipose tissue (AT). In brown AT, atypical unilocular cells were observed in DGKε-KO mice. Unexpectedly, under 180 days of HFD feeding conditions, obesity and insulin resistance were improved in DGKε-KO mice. Multilocular cells were observed in the visceral AT, and the unilocular cells were increased in the brown AT of DGKε-KO mice. Morphological techniques can provide us useful information on local cellular or tissue responses against metabolic change in the adipose tissues.