Omega-3 Fatty Acids-Enriched Fish Oil Activates AMPK/PGC-1α Signaling and Prevents Obesity-Related Skeletal Muscle Wasting

• Published in: Marine drugs 2019-06, Vol.17 (6), p.380
• Main Authors: Liu, Shing-Hwa, Chiu, Chen-Yuan, Wang, Lou-Pin, Chiang, Meng-Tsan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adenosine monophosphate; AMP; AMP-activated protein kinase; AMP-Activated Protein Kinases - metabolism; Animals; Atrophy; Body weight; Defects; Diet; Diet, High-Fat - adverse effects; Fatty acids; Fatty Acids, Omega-3 - pharmacology; Fish; fish oil; Fish oils; Fish Oils - pharmacology; FOXO3 protein; Gene expression; High fat diet; Insulin resistance; Kinases; Lipase; Lipid metabolism; Lipid Metabolism - drug effects; Lipids; Lipoprotein lipase; Lipoproteins; Male; Metabolism; Muscle, Skeletal - drug effects; Muscle, Skeletal - metabolism; Muscles; Muscular Atrophy - drug therapy; Muscular Atrophy - metabolism; Myosin; Obesity; Obesity - metabolism; Oil; Oils & fats; Older people; Omega-3 fatty acids; Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1-alpha - metabolism; Phosphorylation; Protein kinase; Proteins; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Receptors; Signal Transduction - drug effects; Signaling; Skeletal muscle; skeletal muscle wasting; Soleus muscle; Studies; Substitutes
• ISSN: 1660-3397; 1660-3397
• DOI: 10.3390/md17060380

Obesity is known to cause skeletal muscle wasting. This study investigated the effect and the possible mechanism of fish oil on skeletal muscle wasting in an obese rat model. High-fat (HF) diets were applied to induce the defects of lipid metabolism in male Sprague-Dawley rats with or without substitution of omega-3 fatty acids-enriched fish oil (FO, 5%) for eight weeks. Diets supplemented with 5% FO showed a significant decrease in the final body weight compared to HF diet-fed rats. The decreased soleus muscle weights in HF diet-fed rats could be improved by FO substitution. The decreased myosin heavy chain (a muscle thick filament protein) and increased FOXO3A and Atrogin-1 (muscle atrophy-related proteins) protein expressions in soleus muscles of HF diet-fed rats could also be reversed by FO substitution. FO substitution could also significantly activate adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation, peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), and PPARγ protein expression and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) mRNA expression in soleus muscles of HF diet-fed rats. These results suggest that substitution of FO exerts a beneficial improvement in the imbalance of lipid and muscle metabolisms in obesity. AMPK/PGC-1α signaling may play an important role in FO-prevented obesity-induced muscle wasting.