Common links between metabolic syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease: Current overview and future perspectives

Metabolic syndrome (MS) features a constellation of central obesity, dyslipidemia, impaired glucose metabolism and often hypertension joined by insulin resistance and chronic inflammation. All these elements greatly raise patient's risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, resulting in an increased mortality. Metabolic syndrome affects approximately 20-25% of the world's adult population and thus it is essential to study its pathophysiology and seek new pharmacological targets. There is a thoroughly studied link between MS and inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal (GI) system, i.e. steatohepatitis. However, recent findings also indicate similarities in pathophysiological features between MS and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including adipose tissue dysregulation, inadequate immune response, and inflammation. In this review we aim to outline the pathophysiology of MS and emphasize the aspects revealed recently, such as mineralocorticoid activity, involvement of sex hormones and an accompanying increase in prolactin secretion. More importantly, we focus on the common links between MS and IBD. Finally, we describe new strategies and drug targets that may be utilized in MS therapy, namely adiponectin mimetics, GLP-1-based multi agonists, ABCA1 agonists and possible role of miRNA. We also discuss the possible utility of selected agents as adjuvants in IBD therapy.

Metabolic effects of glycerol supplementation and aerobic physical training on Wistar rats

We evaluated the effects of oral glycerol supplementation on trained rats fed a normal diet. Wistar rats were distributed among 6 groups in a completely randomized 2 × 3 factorial design. The animals were subjected to 6 weeks of aerobic training. In the last 4 weeks, the animals’ diet was supplemented with saline, glucose, or glycerol. Data were subjected to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by a Student–Newmann–Keuls test, with values for P < 0.05 considered statistically significant. The change in body mass was lower in the trained groups, and their food and water consumption were higher. Glycerol supplementation resulted in an increase in the levels of triacylglycerol (TAG) and total cholesterol, as well as in the area and diameter of adipocytes. When associated with training, these parameters were similar to those of other trained groups. Levels of low-density lipoprotein + very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased in the trained animals that received glycerol compared with the non-trained ones. Glycerol consumption caused a reduction in food intake and increased the villous:crypt (V:C) ratio. No changes in glycemia, high density lipoproteins, or density of adipocytes were observed. Supplementation with glycerol together with aerobic physical training promoted beneficial metabolic effects. However, in non-trained rats glycerol increased the diameter and area of adipocytes, as well as the levels of TAG and total cholesterol.