Oxytocin: anti-insulin-like effects in isolated fat cells

Oxytocin levels are lower in premenopausal women with type 1 diabetes mellitus compared with matched controls

BACKGROUND

Oxytocin, a hormone most commonly associated with parturition and lactation, may have additional roles in diabetes complications. We determined oxytocin levels in premenopausal women with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) compared with non-diabetic controls and examined associations of oxytocin with health behaviours, clinical factors, biomarkers, kidney function and bone health. Lower oxytocin was hypothesized for T1DM.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study of premenopausal women with T1DM (n = 88) from the Wisconsin Diabetes Registry Study, a population-based cohort of incident T1DM cases, and matched non-diabetic controls (n = 74) was conducted.

RESULTS

Women with T1DM had lower oxytocin levels than controls adjusting for caffeine and alcohol use (p = 0.03). Health behaviours associated with oxytocin differed between women with and without T1DM: oxytocin was negatively associated with hormonal contraceptive use (quantified as lifetime contraceptive oestrogen exposure) in women with T1DM (p = 0.003), whereas positively related to hormonal contraceptive use (quantified as never/former/current) in controls (p < 0.001). Oxytocin had a positive association with adiposity (waist-to-hip ratio and leptin) in women with T1DM and a negative relationship with adiposity (weight gain) in controls. In T1DM only, oxytocin was positively associated with caffeine intake (p = 0.01) and negatively associated with alcohol use (p = 0.01). Oxytocin was not related to glycemic control, kidney function or bone health in T1DM.

CONCLUSIONS

Oxytocin levels are lower in women with T1DM than matched controls. Oxytocin also has opposing associations with hormonal contraceptives and adiposity in women with and without T1DM. Research is needed to determine if the altered oxytocin milieu in T1DM is associated with oxytocinher health outcomes.

Subchronic treatment of rats with oxytocin results in improved adipocyte differentiation and increased gene expression of factors involved in adipogenesis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Treatment with thiazolidinediones, insulin-sensitizing drugs, enhances adipogenesis, which may result in unwanted increase in adiposity. Based on the suggested metabolic effects of oxytocin, the aims of the present study were to: (i) determine whether chronic treatment with oxytocin exerts positive effects on white adipose tissue growth without increasing adiposity; (ii) investigate possible mechanisms of action of oxytocin by measuring the level of gene expression of adipogenic factors; and (iii) test the hypothesis that oxytocin's effect on adipose tissue involves specific activation of eukaryotic elongation factor 2 (eEF2).

EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH

Adult rats were subcutaneously treated with oxytocin (3.6 µg·100 g⁻¹ body weight day⁻¹) via osmotic minipumps for 2 weeks. Adipocytes from epididymal adipose tissue were isolated and their size evaluated by light microscopy. Gene expression of adipogenic and angiogenic factors was determined by real-time PCR and dephosphorylation of eEF2 by immunoblotting.

KEY RESULTS

Oxytocin treatment decreased the diameter of adipocytes and increased the epididymal adipose tissue protein content without changing the adipose tissue mass. Increases in fatty acid binding protein, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, insulin-sensitive glucose transporter 4, leptin and CD31 mRNA levels were noted in the epididymal and/or retroperitoneal fat tissue of oxytocin-treated rats. Oxytocin enhanced the dephosphorylation of eEF2 in the epididymal adipose tissue.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS

The present results demonstrate that subchronic treatment with oxytocin induces adipogenic and angiogenic effects and that the eEF2 signalling pathway is involved in these effects of oxytocin on adipose tissue in vivo. These findings are likely to motivate further research and indicate new approaches for modulating adipose tissue morphology and metabolism.

Regulation of oxytocin-induced phosphoinositide breakdown in adipocytes by adenosine, isoproterenol and insulin

In rat adipocytes, the breakdown of phosphoinositides labelled by a 3 h incubation with [3H]inositol resulted in the accumulation of labelled inositol mono-, bis- and trisphosphates in the presence of oxytocin, vasotocin or vasopressin. Oxytocin at a concentration of 1 nM markedly increased phosphoinositide breakdown. Incubation of adipocytes both during the 3 h labelling and the 10 min breakdown period in a low adenosine medium (presence of adenosine deaminase) or high adenosine medium (presence of 0.1 microM N6-(phenylisopropyl)adenosine) (PIA) did not affect basal or ligand-stimulated phosphoinositide breakdown. The addition of 1 microM PIA only during the measurement of phosphoinositide breakdown variably stimulated basal breakdown but significantly potentiated that due to oxytocin. Isoproterenol similarly had little effect on basal but inhibited oxytocin stimulation of phosphoinositide breakdown. Insulin did not affect basal or ligand-stimulated phosphoinositide breakdown in the low or high adenosine medium. However, in adipocytes incubated in the absence of added adenosine deaminase or PIA, insulin stimulated basal accumulation of inositol phosphates by about 20% and inhibited that due to oxytocin by about 20%. There was no significant effect of insulin on the stimulation by vasopressin or vasotocin of phosphoinositide breakdown. These results indicate that, in adipocytes, phosphoinositide breakdown stimulated by oxytocin is enhanced by adenosine, inhibited by isoproterenol and, under some conditions is inhibited by insulin.

Oxytocin inactivates and phosphorylates rat hepatocyte glycogen synthase

Incubation of isolated rat hepatocytes with oxytocin produces a time- and dose-dependent inactivation of glycogen synthase. Such inactivation is associated with an increase in the phosphorylation state of the 88 kDa subunit of the enzyme, as observed after electrophoretic analysis of the 32P-labelled enzyme isolated by immunoprecipitation from cells incubated with [32P]phosphate. CNBr cleavage of the immunoprecipitated glycogen synthase showed that multiple sites were phosphorylated after exposure of the cells to the hormone. The effect of oxytocin on hepatocyte glycogen synthase activity was not observed in the absence of extracellular Ca2+. Inactivation of glycogen synthase by oxytocin was partially abolished in the presence of insulin. These results indicate that the effects of oxytocin on glycogen synthase from rat hepatocytes are similar to those observed for other Ca2+-mediated glycogenolytic hormones, such as vasopressin.

Inactivation of basal glycogen synthase by glucagon and epinephrine in hepatocytes from fed rats

Glucagon and epinephrine promote the inactivation of basal glycogen synthase in hepatocytes isolated from fed rats. However, this effect is only observable when the activation state of glycogen synthase is measured using the low glucose-6-P/high glucose-6-P activity ratio assay. This inactivation is the consequence of an increase in the kinetic parameters (S0.5 for UDP-glucose and M0.5 for glucose-6-P) of the enzyme. Therefore, this work demonstrates these hormones are also able to control glycogen synthase from fed animals.