Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia. mhafizi55@live.utm.my
  • 2 Institute of Bioproduct Development, University Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia. mroji@ibd.utm.my
  • 3 Department of Bioprocess Engineering, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia. harisun@ibd.utm.my
  • 4 Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. hasnizazh@ummc.edu.my
  • 5 Innovation Centre in Agritechnology for Advanced Bioprocessing (ICA), University Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Malaysia. harisun@ibd.utm.my
Int J Mol Sci, 2014 Dec 02;15(12):22227-57.
PMID: 25474091 DOI: 10.3390/ijms151222227

Abstract

A growing body of evidence suggests that activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathways is among the inflammatory mechanism involved in the development of insulin resistance and chronic low-grade inflammation in adipose tissues derived from obese animal and human subjects. Nevertheless, little is known about the roles of NF-κB pathways in regulating mitochondrial function of the adipose tissues. In the present study, we sought to investigate the direct effects of celastrol (potent NF-κB inhibitor) upon mitochondrial dysfunction-induced insulin resistance in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Celastrol ameliorates mitochondrial dysfunction by altering mitochondrial fusion and fission in adipocytes. The levels of oxidative DNA damage, protein carbonylation and lipid peroxidation were down-regulated. Further, the morphology and quantification of intracellular lipid droplets revealed the decrease of intracellular lipid accumulation with reduced lipolysis. Moreover, massive production of the pro-inflammatory mediators tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) were markedly depleted. Insulin-stimulated glucose uptake activity was restored with the enhancement of insulin signaling pathways. This study signified that the treatments modulated towards knockdown of NF-κB transcription factor may counteract these metabolic insults exacerbated in our model of synergy between mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation. These results demonstrate for the first time that NF-κB inhibition modulates mitochondrial dysfunction induced insulin resistance in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.