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DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF INSULINGLUCOSE METABOLISM IN INTRAUTERINE GROWTH
RESTRICTED AND IMPAIRED GLUCOSE TOLERANCE
NONHUMAN PRIMATES
TAN YONG CHEE
(B.Sc.(Hons.), NTU)
A THESIS SUBMITTED
FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY,
YONG LOO LIN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
2012
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this thesis is my original work and it has been written by me in its
entirety. I have duly acknowledged all the sources of information which have been used
in the thesis.
This thesis has also not been submitted for any degree in any university previously.
__________________
Tan Yong Chee
27 September 2012
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude appreciation to my main supervisor,
A/P Chong Yap Seng, and co-supervisor, Dr Keefe Chng, for accepting me as his student,
giving invaluable advice and guidance during my candidature. I sincerely appreciate your
guidance and support towards the completion of this thesis.
Many thanks to NHP facility members Louiza Chan, Grace Lim, Angelynn Soo, Ang Qiu
Rong, Natalie Hah, Ryan Maniquiz, Carine Lim and Angela Chew for their help in
animal husbandry, veterinary procedures and tissue collection. Also, special thanks go to
the project coordinator Carnette C. Pulma, and platform administrator Dorothy Chen, for
helping me with the administrative work on the various projects.
Last but not least, I am indebted to all the DevOS staff and fellow students for your
support which has helped me during my candidature.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...............................................................................................III
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. IV
SUMMARY……… ......................................................................................................... VII
LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ IX
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................X
ABBREVIATIONS ......................................................................................................... XII
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................1
1.1 Intrauterine growth restriction ...................................................................................1
1.1.1 Implications of IUGR .....................................................................................1
1.2 Type 2 diabetes mellitus ............................................................................................2
1.2.1 Diagnosis of T2DM ........................................................................................3
1.2.2 Progression of T2DM .....................................................................................4
1.3 Insulin-glucose signaling pathway ............................................................................4
1.3.1 Overview of insulin action through IRS/PI3K/AKT pathway ........................5
1.3.2 Abnormal gene regulation of insulin-glucose signaling pathway in T2DM...7
1.3.3 Linking IUGR and T2DM ..............................................................................8
1.4 Gaps in current research of IUGR and T2DM ........................................................10
1.5 Nonhuman primate: a better animal model of IUGR and T2DM ...........................10
1.6 Hypotheses and objectives ......................................................................................13
CHAPTER 2
MATERIALS AND METHODS ............................................................15
2.1 Cynomolgus macaque nutrition-mediated IUGR model .........................................15
2.2 Adult cynomolgus macaque prediabetic model ......................................................16
2.3 IVGTT, blood test and physical measurement ........................................................17
2.4 Muscle biopsy..........................................................................................................18
2.5 Oligonucleotide primers design and production .....................................................19
2.6 Total RNA extraction ..............................................................................................19
2.7 DNase I digestion ....................................................................................................23
2.8 RNA purification .....................................................................................................23
2.9 RNA Quantification ..............................................................................................24
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2.10 RNA integrity assay ..............................................................................................24
2.11 First strand cDNA synthesis ..................................................................................25
2.12 Real time PCR .......................................................................................................26
2.13 Gel extraction and sequencing ..............................................................................26
2.14 Real time PCR data analysis .................................................................................27
2.15 Statistical analysis .................................................................................................28
CHAPTER 3
RESULTS ...............................................................................................29
3.1 Primer efficiency and specificity .............................................................................29
3.2 Cynomolgus macaque nutrition-restricted IUGR model.........................................33
3.2.1 Morphometric analysis: juvenile macaques from 0 to 9 months ..................33
3.2.2 IVGTT analysis: juvenile macaques at 12 months .......................................35
3.2.3 Physical and biochemical properties analysis: juvenile macaques at 15
months……… ........................................................................................................37
3.2.4 Metabolic gene expression analysis: Juvenile macaques at 15 months ........37
3.2.5 Association of biochemical parameters with metabolic gene expression
level: juvenile macaques at 15 months ..................................................................39
3.2.6 Physical and biochemical properties analysis: juvenile macaques at 24
months (9 months after diet treatment) ..................................................................40
3.2.7 Metabolic gene expression analysis: juvenile macaques at 24 months ........42
3.2.8 Association of biochemical parameters with metabolic gene expression
level: juvenile macaques at 24 months ..................................................................46
3.3 Adult cynomolgus macaque prediabetic model ......................................................46
3.3.1 Morphometric analysis: adult macaques .......................................................46
3.3.2 Biochemical analysis: adult macaques..........................................................46
3.3.3 Metabolic gene expression analysis: adult macaques ...................................52
3.3.4 Association of biochemical parameters with metabolic gene expression
Level: adult macaques……………........................................................................54
CHAPTER 4
DISCUSSION .........................................................................................57
4.1 Primer validated for all gene expression studies in cynomologus macaque ...........57
4.2 Nutrition-mediated IUGR macaque were born lighter and experienced
‘catch-up growth’.... ......................................................................................................57
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4.3 Higher glucose clearance rate, total cholesterol and triglycerides observed in
IUGR juvenile macaques at 15 months .........................................................................59
4.4 Accelerated insulin-glucose signaling observed in IUGR juvenile macaques ........59
4.5 Faster deterioration of insulin-glucose signaling in IUGR juvenile macaques
compared to control juvenile macaques exposed to an high fat diet .............................60
4.6 Adult cynomoglus macaque IGT model established and validated ........................62
4.7 Deterioration of insulin-glucose signaling observed in IGT macaque ....................64
4.8 Similar gene expression of AKT1, AKT2 and IRS1 between IUGR juvenile
macaques and adult IGT macaques - the transition point from insulin sensitive to
insulin resistance.... ..................................................................................................66
4.9 Strengths and limitations of these studies ...............................................................68
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS.....................................................................................70
BIBLIOGRAPHY ..............................................................................................................72
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SUMMARY
Proposed by Hales & Barker, the thrifty phenotype hypothesis explains how a change in
fetal environment leading to fetal growth retardation, causes a permanent alteration in
development of metabolic organs and their functions. These adaptions are necessary in
order to survive and grow in a poor nutritional environment, but may cause metabolic
diseases in later life if postnatal life is paradoxically characterized by having improved
nutrition and catch-up growth.
Although there are many studies in animal models showing associations between
intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus
(T2DM), most studies have been done on the rodent model, which does not display
similar reproductive physiology and disease progression as humans. Also, there is a lack
of skeletal muscle tissues analysis of IUGR subjects in this field of research. A better
animal model, such as the nonhuman primate model, is needed to reflect how the
development of IUGR may later lead to T2DM in humans. Therefore, the aims of this
thesis are to explore distinctive characteristics of insulin-glucose metabolism at the gene
expression level, physical and biochemical characteristics in nutrition-mediated IUGR
and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) cynomolgus macaques.
Studies on IUGR and IGT cynomolgus macaques were done concurrently. After a 35%
high fat diet treatment, IGT macaques were heavier in weight, higher in body mass index,
lower glucose clearance rate, hyperinsulinemia, and showed greater insulin resistance as
compared to control macaques. Gene expression analysis from real time polymerase
chain reaction showed a 1.25-1.4 fold increase in AKT1, AKT2 and MSTN, and 2.3-2.8
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fold decrease in IRS1 and SLC2A4RG in IGT macaques, indicating less responsive
insulin-glucose signaling.
IUGR macaques were weighed 10% lighter at birth and experienced a ‘catch-up growth’
in the first 3 months, before having similar growth patterns as control macaques till 9
months. Higher glucose clearance rates, total cholesterol and triglycerides level were
observed in IUGR macaques at 15 months. Furthermore, gene expression analysis
showed a 3-6 fold decrease in AKT1, AKT2 and MSTN, and 1.9-7.7 fold increase in
PIK3R1, IRS1 and SLC2A4RG, indicating accelerated glucose-insulin signaling.
Subjected to high fat diet treatment, IUGR macaques exhibited similar characteristic as
IGT macaques, having up regulated AKT1, MEF2A and GSK3b, and down regulated
IRS1 compared to IUGR macaques undergoing a standard diet. Whereas, control
macaques with high fat diet showed 1.8-4.7 fold increase in SLC2A4, HK2, IRS1 and
SLC2A4RG, and 4 fold decrease in MSTN, indicating elevated insulin-glucose signaling.
All these conclude that the insulin glucose metabolism in IUGR subjects were accelerated
at the beginning and thus developed symptoms of IGT faster than normal subjects after
being fed with a high fat diet.
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Summary of studies using IUGR rodent model and exhibit changes in organs
and gene involving in insulin-glucose metabolism. ...........................................................11
Table 2: List of gene, its function and the primer designed for this study ........................20
Table 3: Details of gentleMAC Dissociator setting for samples homogenization.………23
Table 4: Details of real time PCR setting for different gene of interest ............................26
Table 5: Sequence homology of PCR products against human and rhesus macaque
sequences derived from multiple sequence alignment using ClustalW2 ...........................31
Table 6: Noenates’ morphometric at birth .........................................................................33
Table 7: Infant macaques’ morphometric at 3 months old ................................................33
Table 8: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric at 6 months old ............................................34
Table 9: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric at 9 months old ……… ...............................34
Table 10: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric and IVGTT k-value at 12 months old........37
Table 11: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric and biochemical parameters at 15 months
old……………………………………………………………………………………….. 38
Table 12: Relative quantification of IUGR juvenile macaques gene expression against
control juvenile macaques..................................................................................................39
Table 13: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric and biochemical parameters at 24 months
old, 9 months after diet treatment ......................................................................................44
Table 14: Relative quantification of C-H, I-S and I-H juvenile macaques gene expression
against C-C-S juvenile macaques as reference group ……… ...........................................49
Table 15 Adult macaques’ morphometric before and after diet treatment ........................52
Table 16: Adult macaques’ biochemical parameters before and after diet treatment........53
Table 17: Relative quantification of IGT macaques gene expression against NGT
macaques ……… ...............................................................................................................54
Table 18: A direct comparison in the insulin-glucose biochemical data and the gene
expression data between IUGR high fat juvenile macaques and IGT adult macaques .....67
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Progression of T2DM, highlighting the key metabolic syndrome in the genesis
of the disease……… ............................................................................................................5
Figure 2: : Part of the insulin-glucose signaling system, focusing on IRS/PI3K/AKT
pathway…………………………………………………………………………………… 6
Figure 3: Causes of IUGR, which have the impact on metabolic sites and develop T2DM
in the later stage of life.…………........................................................................................9
Figure 4: Progression of T2DM from lean to obese with IGT, hyperinsulinemia, and
T2DM in cynomolgus monkeys.........................................................................................13
Figure 5: Muscle biopsy of cynomolgus macaques indicating the position of thigh pelvis
joint and the site of muscle to be taken ..............................................................................18
Figure 6: Standard curve of FOXO1 Real time PCR for primer efficiency calculation ....29
Figure 7: PCR efficiency of all the primers used in the experiments ................................30
Figure 8: 1.5% Agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR products...........................................31
Figure 9: Dissociation curve analysis of PCR products.....................................................32
Figure 10: Trend of juvenile macaques’ weight and weight gains from 0 to 9 months ....35
Figure 11: Trend of juvenile macaques’ CRL and CRL gains from 0 to 9 months ...........36
Figure 12: Trend of juvenile macaques’ BMI and BMI changes from 0 to 9 months .......36
Figure 13: Relative quantification of IUGR juvenile macaques gene expression against
control juvenile macaques..................................................................................................40
Figure 14: 15 months juveniles macaque scatterplots and linear trendline .......................41
Figure 15: Graphic repersentation of Juvenile macaques’ morphometric and biochemical
parameters at 24 months old, 9 months after diet treatment ..............................................45
Figure 16: : Graphic representation of relative quantification of SLC2A4, IRS2, MEF2A,
HK2, MSTN, PIK3R1, INSR, GCK, PKM2, GYS1, AKT1 and AKT2 in C-H, I-S and IH juvenile macaques against C-S juvenile macaques as reference group ……………. ...47
Figure 17: : Graphic representation of relative quantification of PIKC3a, PIK2Cb,
PDPK1, GSK3b, FOXO1, IRS1 and SLC2A4RG in C-H, I-S and I-H juvenile macaques,
against C-S juvenile macaques as reference group ………… ...........................................48
Figure 18: 24 months juveniles macaque scatterplots and linear trendline .......................51
Figure 19: Graphic representation of relative quantification of IGT macaques gene
expression against NGT macaques ....................................................................................55
Figure 20: Adult macaques scatterplots and linear trendline .............................................56
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Figure 21: Photos of adult macaques involved in prediabetes study .................................62
Figure 22: A schematic diagram of the hypothesis on accelerated insulin-glucose
signaling and early development of metabolic disease in IUGR subject...........................68
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ABBREVIATIONS
T2DM
WHO
OGTT
IGT
IRS
INSR
PI3K
PDPK
GSK3b
GYS
FOXO1
GCK
HK
PKM
SLC2A4
MEF2A
SLC2A4RG
IUGR
LBW
SGA
HC/AC
PEPCK
G6Pase
PGC-1α
BACT
GAPDH
RPL13a
GD
PCR
IVGTT
BMI
HOMA-IR
QUICKI
ANOVA
SD
RIN
HDL
LDL
Type 2 diabetes mellitus
World Health Organization
Oral glucose tolerance test
Impaired glucose tolerance
Insulin receptor substrate
Insulin receptor
Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase
phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase dependent kinases
Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta
Glycogen synthase
Forkhead box O1
Glucokinase
Hexokinase
Pyruvate kinase
Glucose transporter 4
Myocyte Enhancer Factor 2A
Glucose transporter 4 regulatory gene
Intrauterine growth restriction
Low birth weight
Small for gestational age
Head-to-abdominal circumference ratio
Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase
Glucose-6-phosphatase
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α
Beta actin
Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
Ribosomal protein large subunit 13a
Gestational day
Polymerase chain reaction
Intravenous glucose tolerance test
Body mass index
Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance
Quantitative insulin sensitivity check index
Analysis of variance
Standard deviation
Ribonucleic acid integrity number
High density lipoprotein
Low density lipoprotein
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DNA
RNA
mRNA
cDNA
RQ
rcf
CRL
CHL
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Ribonucleic acid
Messenger ribonucleic acid
Complementary deoxyribonucleic acid
Relative quantification
Relative centrifugal force
Crown-rump length
Crown-heel length
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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Intrauterine growth restriction
Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is a condition of poor fetal growth in utero, due to
a maternal restricted environment in which a fetus is unable to achieve its maximum
growth potential before it is born (Monk and Moore, 2004). Currently, the common
markers used for detecting IUGR babies are the birth weight and the infant size relative
to the population growth curves. Defined by World Health Organization (WHO), birth
weight below 2500g and head/abdominal circumference below 10th percentile of the
birth population are considered as ‘low birth weight (LBW)’ and ‘small for gestational
age (SGA)’ respectively. A term baby born with LBW and SGA can be diagnosed as
having IUGR (Harkness and Mari, 2004). IUGR can be subdivided into symmetric and
asymmetric fetal growth. Head-to-abdominal circumference ratios (HC/AC) have been
used at classifying fetuses into various subtypes based on head proportionality; overall
smaller HC and AC with ratio close to normal baby morphometric (symmetrical) or those
with relative head sparing (asymmetrical) (Harkness and Mari, 2004). Although the terms
‘IUGR’, ‘LBW’ and ‘SGA’ have generally similar classification with one another, they
are not interchangeable: not all LBW or SGA babies are IUGR (Tan and Yeo, 2005).
1.1.1 Implications of IUGR
IUGR is one possible cause of adverse health effects in the later stages of an individual.
Many epidemiological studies in human have uncovered associations between restricted
growth in utero and the susceptibility to developing insulin resistance and/or impaired
glucose tolerance (IGT) due to LBW, leading to the acquisition of chronic diseases such
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as Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hyperlipidaemia in the later stages of life
(Phillips et al, 1994; Eriksson et al, 2003; Gesina et al, 2004). These observations were
explained using the “thrifty phenotype” hypothesis proposed by Hales & Barker, which
states that fetal growth retardation causes a change in fetal environment, leading to a
permanent alteration in development of metabolic organs and their functions, serving to
protect key organs, especially the brain. Such fetal “programming” is necessary in order
to survive and grow in a poor nutritional environment. However this may lead to
metabolic diseases after having improved nutrition and catch-up growth later in life
(Hales and Barker, 1992).
1.2 Type 2 diabetes mellitus
T2DM is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world. Until 2011, more than
300 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with diabetes, of which 90% are
classified as T2DM (WHO, 2001). This number is projected to double both by population
size and mortality rates by the year 2030 (Wild et al, 2004). In Singapore, diabetes is the
fifth most common medical condition diagnosed affecting more than 400,000 adults from
18 to 65 years old. This number is about 11.3% of Singapore’s population. It is also one
of the top 6 killer diseases in Singapore that have accounted for 1,700 to 3,500 deaths per
annum from 2008 to 2010 (Ministry of Health, Singapore, 2011). Acquisition of T2DM is
mainly due to lifestyle factors, and obesity is one of the factors strongly associated with
T2DM (Weir and Leahy 1994). In Singapore, the prevalence of obesity in 2010 was
10.8%. This is almost double the figure in 1998, where the prevalence was only 6.0%
(Ministry of Health, Singapore, 2011), indicating a strong trend of growing numbers of
T2DM patients in the future. High dietary fat diet, defined as diet with more than 30% of
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calories derived from fat (Surwit et al, 1988), is one of the lifestyle factors that cause
obesity. Foods which are high in fat content are commonly found in deep fried food,
cream cakes, cookies, processed meat and canned food. Such diets are viewed as
unhealthy as they increase the amount of fatty acids available for oxidation in skeletal
muscle, resulting in excess energy available and causing energy imbalance in the body
(Bray & Popkin, 1998). To deal with such problem, the body covert those excess energy
to adipose tissues and distribute around organs and inside abdominal cavity for storage,
causing obesity when excess body fats are accumulated.
There are many long term complications that are associated with T2DM, and they are
categorized into two groups: microvascular diseases (such as nephropathy, retinopathy
and neuropathy) and macrovascular diseases (such as peripheral vascular disease, stroke,
ischemic and coronary heart disease) (Betteridge, 1996; Coutinho et al, 1999; Sarwar et
al, 2010; Boussageon et al, 2011) All these complications may lead to increased mortality,
making T2DM a metabolic disease that cannot be neglected.
1.2.1 Diagnosis of T2DM
Singapore uses the same guidelines as WHO recommendations. T2DM can be diagnosed
if any of the 3 following observations is presented:
1. Fasting plasma glucose more than 7.0mmol/L
2. Casual plasma glucose more than 11.1mmol/L
3. 2 hours plasma glucose during 75g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) more than
11.1mmol/L (Goh et al, 2011)
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1.2.2 Progression of T2DM
T2DM is a progressive disease that develops over the years with different stages: from
normal glucose tolerance to an intermediate stage of IGT called prediabetes, and lastly
aggravated to T2DM (Edelstein et al, 1997). T2DM is linked with a significant period of
prediabetes characterized by increased basal insulin secretion, decreased insulin
sensitivity and presence of insulin resistance (figure 1) (Cefalu WT, 2000; Barr et al,
2007). Studies have showed that during this period of time, patients suffered a gradual
drop in the insulin secretory capacity of pancreatic islet β-cell, causing IGT (Buchanaan
2003; Weyer et al.1999, 2001).
Using WHO and Singapore diagnostic criteria, IGT is diagnosed if fasting plasma
glucose is between 6.1 to 7.0mmol/L or 2 hours plasma glucose during 75g OGTT
between 7.8 to 11.1mmol/L (Goh et al, 2011).
As the disease progresses, the islet function deteriorate to the point whereby it is unable
to compensate fully for the degree of insulin resistance, clinically overt T2DM develops.
(Buchanaan, 2003; Weyer et al.1999, 2001). Increased risk of hypertension, dyslipidemia,
arteriosclerotic vascular disease and cardiovascular pathology were observed due to
complications of abnormal glucose homeostasis (Cefalu WT, 2000; Barr et al, 2007).
1.3 Insulin-glucose signaling pathway
The insulin-glucose signaling system regulates the storage and usage of energy (primarily
glucose), as well as the growth and development of tissue. Insulin plays a major role in
blood glucose regulation as it promotes cellular glucose uptake, glycogen synthesis in
skeletal muscle and liver, and inhibits gluconeogenesis in the liver (DeFronzo and
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Ferrannini, 2001). It works in tandem with the glucose glycolysis pathway, utilizing this
energy source to promote growth and development of tissue (DeFronzo and Ferrannini,
2001).
Figure 1: Progression of T2DM, highlighting the key metabolic syndrome in the genesis
of the disease. The shaded area signifies the presence of the metabolic syndrome.
Adopted from Cefalu WT, 2000.
1.3.1 Overview of insulin action through IRS/PI3K/AKT pathway
The overview of the insulin-glucose signaling pathway for glucose metabolism is shown
in figure 2. At the start of the pathway, insulin binds to a cell surface receptor that
belongs to a sub-family of growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases: Insulin receptor
(INSR). INSR propagates the signal to insulin receptor substrate (IRS) by
phosphorylation and then phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K). PI3K activates a PI3Kdependent kinases, PDPK1 (Alessi et al, 1997) which in turn phosphorylates and
activates additional serine/threonine kinases, mainly AKT1 and AKT2 (Burgering and
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Coffer, 1995). AKT phosphorylates glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3b) (Cross et
al, 1995), which removes the inhibition of glycogen synthase (GYS). Such action allows
glycogenesis to proceed, converting excess glucose to glycogen for storage. AKT also
phosphorylates and inhibits FOXO transcription factor Forkhead box O1 (FOXO1)
(Brunet et al, 1999), leading to stimulation of glycolysis and gene expression for enzymes
involving glycolysis, such as glucokinase (GCK), hexokinase (HK) and pyruvate kinase
(PKM).
In addition, there is evidence of AKT activation involved in stimulation of glucose
transport via aiding the translocation of glucose transporter 4 (SLC2A4) (Kohn et al,
1996). On the other hand, the expression of SLC2A4 is regulated by both Myocyte
Enhancer Factor 2A (MEF2A) and glucose transporter 4 regulatory gene (SLC2A4RG).
Both interact with each other to control the amount of SLC2A4 available for
translocation to the cell membrane (Mora and Pessin, 2000; Sparling et al, 2008).
Figure 2: Part of the insulin-glucose signaling system, focusing on IRS/PI3K/AKT
pathway.
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1.3.2 Abnormal gene regulation of insulin-glucose signaling pathway in T2DM
There is evidence linking changes in expression profile of insulin-glucose gene with
T2DM. Mice with IRS1 and IRS2 knockout exhibit insulin resistance and subsequently
develop diabetes (Tamemoto et al, 1994; Araki et al, 1994). Reduced activation of PI3K
due to decreased IRS1 signaling was observed in insulin resistant ob/ob mice and these
observations were similar to streptozotocin induced diabetes rats (Folli et al, 1993). In
addition, deletion of PI3K catalytic subunits alpha, beta, and regulatory subunit 1 in mice
displayed IGT and hyperinsulinemia as compared to the control group (Brachmann et al,
2004). Because of reduced IRS/PI3K activation, a decrease in PDPK1 activation was also
seen in muscle tissue of human subjects suffering from T2DM (Kim et al, 1999). Another
human muscle study showed that up regulated GSK3b activity was observed, which
causes increased phosphorylation of GYS1 and deactivates glycogen synthase. The rate
of glycogen synthesis was assessed after 75g OGTT and 3 hours hyperinsulinemic
euglycemic clamps, whereby diabetes subjects had a slower rate of glycogen synthesis
compared to normal subjects (Nikoulina et al, 2000). AKT phosphorylation was observed
to be impaired in an in vitro insulin resistance muscle cell culture system, but this
observation was not made in a muscle biopsy specimen (Ueki et al, 1998). Impaired
activity and dysregulation of glycolytic enzymes HK, GCK and PKM were detected in
patients with T2DM (Vestergaard et al, 1995; Njølstad et al, 2001; Wang et al 2002;
Beale et al, 2004). Lastly, SLC2A4 and its gene regulation were affected in T2DM
subjects. Impaired translocation of SLC2A4 to the cell membrane surface was reported in
a study looking at insulin resistant human podocytes (Lennon et al, 2009). SLC2A4
knockout mice developed severe insulin-resistant diabetes with high blood glucose
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(Stenbit et al, 1997; Joost et al, 2002). Reduced MEF2A and/or SLC2A4RG decreases
interaction at DNA binding site of the SLC2A4 gene and was discovered in diabetic mice
(Mora and Pessin, 2000; Sparling et al, 2008). All the above indicates that any abnormal
changes in this signaling pathway will result in insulin resistance, IGT and T2DM.
1.3.3 Linking IUGR and T2DM
Although there is significant evidence linking IUGR with the development of diabetes as
each individual grows, the molecular mechanisms underlying the association between
IUGR and the development of diabetes are not very well understood. Hence, there is an
urgent need to understand the pathogenesis of T2DM caused by IUGR, in order to
determine effective treatment and management of the disease. In order to investigate the
molecular mechanisms by which IUGR leads to eventual development of T2DM,
different animal models, mostly rodent models, have been developed and are widely used
for such studies. There are four methods of generating IUGR animals: Bilateral uterine
artery ligation, maternal low protein diet, maternal caloric restriction and over-exposure
of the maternal glucocorticoid. Table 1 presents a meta-analysis of rodent models used
for IUGR induction using the four methods mentioned, and their findings on the
immediate and future impact on offspring. All, except the Vuguin et al study, showed
significant lower birth in IUGR pups. Using birth weight as the main factor for successful
IUGR induction, maternal caloric restriction appears as the best method out of the four
mentioned. Islet and β-cell mass were smaller as compared to control pups, with
decreased insulin secretion (Arantes et al, 2002; Styrud et al, 2005; Inoue et al, 2009). As
for organs development, gene expression of key gluconeogenesis enzymes,
phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), glucose-6-phosphatase (G6Pase) and
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peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) were up regulated
in the liver of IUGR subjects (Nyirenda et al, 1998; Vuguin et al, 2004; Buhl et al, 2007;
Liu et al, 2009). This phenomenon was explained by the failure to inhibit
gluconeogenesis via AKT signaling pathway (Vuguin et al, 2004). Skeletal muscle
research by Thamotharan et al discovered SLC2A4 expression level and protein were
decreased in IUGR subjects (Thamotharan et al, 2004). As IUGR subjects grew up, they
developed fasting hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia and IGT at the early stage of life, and
then subsequently developed T2DM. The above mentioned data is summarized in figure
3.
Figure 3: Causes of IUGR, which have the impact on metabolic sites and develop T2DM
in the later stage of life. Modification from Martin-Gronert and Ozanne, 2007.
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1.4 Gaps in current research of IUGR and T2DM
Although there are many studies in animal models showing associations between IUGR
and the development of T2DM, most studies were done on the rodent model. Rodent
models have obvious advantages such as ease of maintenance, short gestation periods,
short lifespan, and most importantly lower cost, which makes longitudinal studies using
large number of animals attractive. However a major limitation is that rodent model of
diabetes does not demonstrate the similarities for pathophysiological conditions observed
in humans with T2DM (Cefalu WT, 2006). In addition, most of the studies were focused
on pancreas islet, β-cell and liver conditions in IUGR subjects, but only a handful of
studies focused on skeletal muscle tissues of IUGR subjects. Being the main site of
insulin-dependent glucose disposal, any abnormal condition or dysregulated gene
detected at this area is an indication of the development of IGT and subsequently T2DM
(Cline et al, 1999). Therefore, studies on this tissue are necessary to give a more
comprehensive overview on the impact of growth restriction on the metabolic organs and
the molecular pathogenesis of T2DM. Lastly, rodents have polytocous pregnancies and
give birth to litters of offspring. Natural IUGR may arise from such pregnancies and will
decrease the reliability of the study. Human pregnancies are generally monotocous. All
these reasons suggest that there is a need for a better animal model reflecting the disease
conditions in humans.
1.5 Nonhuman primate: a better animal model of IUGR and T2DM
There are many nonhuman primate models of diabetes in various existing studies. Old
world nonhuman primates have reported natural cases of T2DM, with the disease starting
10 | P a g e
Reference
Strain
Induction
method
% weight
lighter in
IUGR
15%
Tissue
analyzed
Observations in IUGR subjects
Islet and βcell
Mild fasting hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia
observed. Became glucose intolerance, insulin-resistant
and having 50% lesser in β-cells mass after 7 weeks
Basal hepatic glucose production was significantly
higher in IUGR. PEPCK and G6Pase expression level
was higher in IUGR
β-cell mass and insulin content were reduced by 35–40%
in IUGR. No difference in glucose tolerant between 2
groups initially, but IUGR were glucose intolerant after
3 month
PEPCK and GR expression level was higher in IUGR.
Fasting hyperglycemia, reactive hyperglycemia and
hyperinsulinemia observed
Fasting hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance observed.
PEPCK and IGFBP-1 expression level was higher. No
difference in IGF-I and GR expression level
IUGR have decrease in islet mass and insulin secretion.
PDX-1 protein and mRNA levels were reduced in IUGR
Fasting hyperglycemia observed in IUGR. G6Pase,
PEPCK,PGC-1α expression level was higher in IUGR
No difference in SLC2A4 expression level in adipose
tissue. Decrease SLC2A4 expression level in skeletal
muscle was observed
Simmons et al., Spraque2001
Dawley
Bilateral uterine
artery ligation
Vuguin et al.,
2004
SpraqueDawley
Bilateral uterine
artery ligation
No
difference
Liver
Styrud et al.,
2005
SpraqueDawley
Bilateral uterine
artery ligation
10%
Islet and βcell
Nyirenda et al., Wistar
1998
Dexamethasone
administration
10%
Liver
Buhl et al.,
2007
SpraqueDawley
Dexamethasone
administration
13%
Liver
Arantes et al.,
2002
Liu et al., 2009
Wistar
8%
Islet and βcell
Liver
Thamotharan
et al., 2004
SpraqueDawley
Low protein diet
(6%)
Low protein diet
(8%)
Caloric
restriction
(50%)
Wistar
10%
25%
Skeletal
muscle &
white adipose
tissue
Islet and βcell
Caloric
19%
75% decrease in β-cell mass and 60% decrease in islet
restriction
density observed. Fasting hyperglycemia and glucose
(30% )
intolerance observed in IUGR.
Table 1: Summary of studies using IUGR rodent model and exhibit changes in organs and gene involving in insulin-glucose
metabolism.
Inoue et al.,
2009
C57BL6J
11 | P a g e
from glucose tolerance and insulin resistance with compensatory hyperinsulinemia,
followed by IGT with declining glucose clearance, reported in k-value derived from
intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT), and lastly continued deterioration of insulinglucose prior to signs of hyperglycemia and diabetes (figure 4) (Hansen and Bodkin,
1986; Bodkin, 2000; Wagner et al 2001; Tigno et al, 2004). T2DM prevalence increases
in nonhuman primates with age and obesity (Bodkin, 2000). As the progressive history of
the disease and the response to dietary management are closely similar to humans, therein
lies the major advantage of disease detection as compared to rodent model whereby the
prediabetic phase is often undetectable. Another advantage over the rodent model is the
development of atherosclerosis in nonhuman primate models and increased risk of
cardiovascular disease as T2DM progresses (Clarkson 1998), where these observations
are not present in the rodent model. The nonhuman primate genome is genetically similar
to the human genome, with the examples of the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) and
cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) having 93% and 91% homology with
humans respectively (Gibbs et al, 2007). Nonhuman primates are a better model for
IUGR studies, as evidence shows similar reproduction physiology and in utero
development of the fetus, especially endocrine development, compared to humans
(Tarantal and Hendrickx, 1988). Furthermore, primates have monotocous pregnancies.
The gestational period is shorter (154-180 days) compared to humans, though
comparatively longer than rodent. However the high maintenance costs of nonhuman
primate models may make them less attractive for longitudinal studies, explaining on the
lack of longitudinal IUGR studies in nonhuman primate. Regardless, a longitudinal study
on this area is highly beneficial, as any developments made through this nonhuman
12 | P a g e
primate study, enables a controlled study of the development of IUGR and later leading
to T2DM in humans, and has potential for further studies in disease prevention.
Figure 4: Progression of T2DM from lean to obese with IGT, hyperinsulinemia (HI), and
T2DM in cynomolgus monkeys. The proposed association with cardiovascular disease
(Vascular Dz) is projected. Adopted from Bodkin N.L, 2000.
1.6 Hypotheses and objectives
The proposed hypotheses in this thesis are:
1. Metabolic gene expression levels, physical and biochemical characteristics are
different in IUGR offspring displaying abnormal catch-up growth, as compared to
normal offspring at the early juvenile stage of life
2. Metabolic gene expression levels of genes involved in insulin and glucose
metabolism, physical and biochemical characteristics are different between normal
and IGT adult macaques
13 | P a g e
3. IUGR macaques with high fat diet develop IGT earlier than normal macaques, with
the progression similar to the adult IGT macaques model
From the hypotheses, the objectives derived are:
1. To morphologically characterize nutrition-mediated IUGR infant cynomolgus
macaques for the first 9 months of their life.
2. To investigate the gene expression levels of genes involved in insulin and glucose
metabolism, physical and biochemical characteristics, before and after high fat diet
treatment in nutrition-mediated IUGR model.
3. To establish an adult nonhuman primate IGT model using cynomolgus macaques
4. To investigate the metabolic gene expression levels of genes involved in insulin and
glucose metabolism, physical and biochemical characteristics in the adult IGT
macaques model
5. To explore any similarity in gene expression, physical and biochemical characteristics
between IUGR macaques with high fat diet and the adult IGT macaques model.
14 | P a g e
CHAPTER 2
MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1 Cynomolgus macaque nutrition-mediated IUGR model
Nutrition-mediated IUGR macaque model was set up by Chng et al (unpublished work)
prior to my candidature. The study is as follows: sexually mature male and female
cynomolgus macaques were group housed for natural breeding. Female macaques were
routinely scanned by ultrasound (GE Logiq S6, GE Healthcare) every three weeks to
facilitate pregnancy detection. Once pregnancy was confirmed, macaques were randomly
assigned to either the control or IUGR group. Control dams were given 100% standard
lab diet (Laboratory Fiber-Plus Monkey Diet 5049, Lab Diet) throughout the pregnancy,
whereas IUGR dams were given 35% fewer in amount compared to the control dams
from Gestational day (GD) 32 to GD 70, and then 30% fewer in amount from GD 71 to
the end of pregnancy. All food intake were monitored throughout pregnancy and
pregnant dams were scanned every month from GD 30 to GD 125 to monitor fetal
viability and growth in utero. All neonates were delivered naturally and their birth
weights and morphometrics were measured at birth.
The growth of macaques derived from the control and IUGR group were monitored
throughout the study. Weight and morphometrics were measured every three months
staring from birth. IVGTT and blood test were done at 12 months of age. All were given
100% standard lab diet, until 15 months where diet treatment was started, and macaques
were further divided randomly into four groups: Control-Standard diet (C-S), ControlHigh fat diet (C-H), IUGR-Standard diet (I-S), IUGR-High fat diet (I-H). Standard diet
groups continued to receive standard lab diet (Laboratory Fiber-Plus Monkey Diet 5049,
15 | P a g e
Lab Diet) comprising 26% protein, 14% fat and 60% carbohydrate. However, high fat
diet groups were given 35% high fat diet (Obesity induced primate diet, Altromin)
comprising 18% protein, 35% fat and 47% carbohydrate. Weight, physical measurement,
IVGTT and blood tests and muscle biopsies were carried out at 15 months (before diet
treatment) and 24 months (9 months after diet treatment)
All animal procedures were approved and conducted in compliance with standards of
Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, and guidelines established by the
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Singapore Health Services, under
protocol IACUC #2009/SHS/445. Animal husbandry and veterinary procedures were
done with the assistance of research veterinarian and technicians. The studies in this
thesis started when most of the juvenile macaques were at 18 months old.
2.2 Adult cynomolgus macaque IGT model
14 male macaques were randomized into two groups, NGT (Normal glucose tolerance)
and IGT (Impaired glucose tolerance). NGT group was given the standard lab diet
(Laboratory Fiber-Plus Monkey Diet 5049, Lab Diet), while the IGT group was given
high fat diet (Obesity induced primate diet, Altromin). Muscle biopsy, IVGTT, blood test
and morphometric measurements were scheduled 6 months after diet treatment. All
animal procedures were approved and conducted in compliance with standards of AgriFood & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, and guidelines established by the Institutional
Animal Care and Use Committee of Singapore Health Services, under protocol IACUC
#2008/SHS/418.
16 | P a g e
2.3 IVGTT, blood test and physical measurement
Each subject was fasted overnight for at least 16 hours prior to an IVGTT. On the day of
the procedure, the subject was sedated with 10mg/kg ketamine hydrochloride (Parnell)
intramuscularly. After the subject was anesthetized, it was weighed and transferred to
procedure table. A total of 3 ml of blood was drawn and the tubes were centrifuged at
3,000 relative centrifugal force (rcf) for 10 minutes at room temperature. The blood
serum was transferred into new tubes and they were sent to NUS referral laboratory for
glucose, insulin and lipid panel analysis.
IVGTT was performed after blood taking. Fasting glucose (t = 0 minute) was measured
using a handheld glucometer (Medisense Optium Xceed, Abbott Singapore), before
injecting 750mg/kg dextrose mixed with an equal volume of saline (0.9% sodium
chloride) intravenously over 3 minutes. Glucose was measured at 9 different time points
(t = 1, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 60 minutes) after dextrose injection. One final
measurement at t = 90 minutes was taken to ensure that blood glucose had returned to
normal levels, additional measurements were taken every 10 minutes if blood glucose
was still above the normal range.
Subject’s weight, crown-rump length (CRL) and crown-heel length (CHL) were taken
prior to transport back to the cage. The k-value from the IVGTT data was calculated
using the formula proposed by Dreval and Ametov, 2007. Body mass index (BMI) for
adult macaques were calculated using the formula:
or
. With the
fasting glucose and insulin obtained, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance
(HOMA-IR) was calculated using formula written by Matthew et al, 1985, and
17 | P a g e
Quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI) was calculated using formula
written by Katz et al, 2000. All values were recorded in the subject file and kept for
further analysis.
2.4 Muscle biopsy
Subject was fasted overnight at least 16 hours prior to the procedure. On the day of the
biopsy, the subject was sedated with 10mg/kg ketamine hydrochloride (Parnell)
intramuscularly. After the subject was anesthetized, it was weighed and transferred to a
procedure table. The hair at the right lateral thigh was shaved to expose the skin. Using
the thigh-pelvis joint as a reference point, appropriately 3cm to the left of greater
trochanter of femur was marked for site of biopsy (figure 5). The area was disinfected
using hexodane and septanol (ICM Pharma) followed by punching the area using a sterile
6mm biopsy punch (Stiefel). Immediately, the tissue extracted was trimmed and weighed,
~ 3cm
thigh-pelvis joint
Figure 5: Muscle biopsy of cynomolgus macaques indicating the position of thigh-pelvis
joint and the site of muscle to be taken.
18 | P a g e
and the muscle tissue was transferred into a cryovial, which was snap frozen in liquid
nitrogen. At the same time, the excision area was sutured and cleaned, followed by
administration of subcutaneous analgesic and antibiotic (1.4mg/kg Carpofen and
75mg/kg Betamox respectively). The subject was returned to the cage and placed under
observation for a few days. All tissues were stored at -80oC until further processing
2.5 Oligonucleotide primers design and production
Oligonucleotide primers were designed using the web-based program NCBI primer
BLAST (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/tools/primer-blast) and primer3 (frodo.wi.mit.edu). As
cynomolgus macaque genome was not yet available at that point of time, human and
rhesus macaque genome were used for the primer design and sequence alignment was
done to confirm that flanking regions were conserved. Desired primers were ordered
from Sigma and resuspended in 100ul of Milli-Q water (Merck Millipore). Working
primer solutions were prepared by diluting the stock to 2uM with Milli-Q water. All
primers were stored at -20oC. The primers used are listed in table 2.
2.6 Total RNA extraction
1ml of TRIzol (Invitrogen) was added into each muscle tissue sample, followed by
samples homogenization using gentleMAC Dissociator and M-tube (Miltenyi Biotec)
with the following manufacturer settings shown in table 3. After homogenization, the
tubes were centrifuged at 3,000 rcf for 5 minutes at 4oC, transferring the supernatant to a
new 2ml microtubes and discarding the pellet. The microtubes were incubated at room
temperature (25oC to 30oC) for 5 minutes, before adding 200ml chloroform (Sigma) to
each tube, then vortexing them for 15 seconds and incubating for another 3 minutes
19 | P a g e
Gene code
Gene name
SLC2A4
Glucose transporter 4
INSR
Insulin receptor
GCK
Glucokinase
IRS2
Insulin receptor substrate
2
MEF2A
Myocyte enhancer factor
2A
PKM2
Pyruvate kinase muscle
GYS1
Glycogen synthase 1
HK2
Hexokinase 2
AKT1
v-akt murine thymoma
viral oncogene homolog 1
Function
Transportation of
glucose across cell
membrane
insulin-activated
receptor tyrosine
kinase
phosphorylation of
glucose to glucose-6phosphate
signal transducer of
insulin-glucose
metabolism
transcription factor for
cellular and growth
differentiation
dephosphorylation of
phosphoenolpyruvate
to pyruvate
Synthesis of glycogen
from glucose
phosphorylation
glucose to glucose 6phosphate
protein
serine/threonine
kinase
Primer Sequence (5’ to 3’)
Product
size (bp)
Forward: AGCCTCATGGGCCTGGCCAA
Reverse: CCCAGCACCTGGGCGATCAG
203
Forward: AGGGCTGAAGCTGCCCTCGA
Reverse: AGATGGCCTAGGGTCCTCGGC
247
Forward: ACTCCATCCCCGAGGACGCC
Reverse: TCTCGCAGAAGCCCCACGACA
238
Forward: CGAGGGCTGCGCAAGAGGAC
Reverse: GTCGTCTGCCCCCAGGTTGC
249
Forward: AGAGGGTGCGACAGCCCAGA
Reverse: GCTGGCTGCCAAAGATGGGGA
234
Forward: CGCCCATTACCAGCGACCCC
Reverse: GCCTCGGGCCTTGCCAACAT
299
Forward: TGGCTGATCGAGGGAGGCCC
Reverse: CGGGCACGACACAGGCAGAG
266
Forward: CCCCTGCCAGCAGAACAGCC
Reverse: GCATTGCTGCCCGTGCCAAC
240
Forward: TGAAGCTGCTGGGCAAGGGC
Reverse: GAGGCGGTCGTGGGTCTGGA
212
20 | P a g e
AKT2
v-akt murine thymoma
viral oncogene homolog 2
MSTN
Myostatin
PIK3Ca
PIK3Cb
Phosphoinositide-3kinase, catalytic, alpha
polypeptide
Phosphoinositide-3kinase, catalytic, beta
polypeptide
PIK3R1
Phosphoinositide-3kinase, regulatory subunit
1
PDPK1
3-phosphoinositide
dependent protein kinase1
GSK3b
Glycogen synthase kinase
3 beta
FOXO1
Forkhead box O1
protein
serine/threonine
kinase
Muscle growth
differentiation factor
protein
serine/threonine
kinase
protein
serine/threonine
kinase
transmembrane
receptor protein
tyrosine kinase
adaptor
3-phosphoinositidedependent protein
serine/threonine
kinase
phosphorylation and
inactivation of enzyme
glycogen synthase
transcription factor for
gluconeogenesis and
glycogenolysis
processes
Forward: AGTGGCGGTCAGCAAGGCAC
Reverse: AAAGCACAGGCGGTCGTGGG
271
Forward: GCGATGGCTCTTTGGAAGATGACG
Reverse: ACCAGTGCCTGGGTTCATGTCA
215
Forward: AGCCAGAGGTTTGGCCTGCT
Reverse: CCACAGTGGCCTTTTTGCAGAGG
300
Forward: TGGGGATGACCTGGACCGAGC
Reverse: ACTGGCGGAACCGGCCAAAC
284
Forward: TCGCCTCCCACACCAAAGCC
Reverse: TGCCAGGTTGCTGGAGCTCTG
231
Forward: AACCTGCACCAGCAGACGCC
Reverse: GGGTTTCCGCCAGCCTGCTT
296
Forward: GCCAAACAGACGCTCCCTGTGA
Reverse: AGCCAACACACAGCCAGCAGA
300
Forward: TGACAGCAACAGCTCGGCGG
Reverse: TCTTGGCAGCTCGGCTTCGG
215
21 | P a g e
signal transducer of
Forward: CCCAGTGGCCGAAAGGGCAG
IRS1
insulin-glucose
Reverse: AGCTGGTCCCGGAAGGGACG
metabolism
Regulation of
Glucose transporter 4
Forward: TCTCCGTCCACCCCGTCACC
SLC2A4RG
SLC2A4 gene and
regulatory gene
Reverse: TGCTCAGGCTCTGCCTGCCT
glucose transporter 4
Synthesis of glycerate
1,3-bisphosphate to
Glyceraldehyde-3glyceraldehyde 3Forward: GGTCGTATTGGGCGCCTGGT
GAPDH
phosphate dehydrogenase phosphate
Reverse: TACTCAGCGCCAGCATCGCC
(Housekeeping gene
for this thesis)
Cell cytoskeleton
Forward: GTACCCCATCGAGCACGGCA
BACT
Beta actin
(Housekeeping gene
Reverse: CCAGTGGTACGGCCAGAGGC
for this thesis)
Component of
ribosomes for protein
Forward: TGGTCGTACGCTGCGAAGGC
RPL13A
Ribosomal protein L13a
systhesis
Reverse: GGCGGTGGGATGCCGTCAAA
(Housekeeping gene
for this thesis)
Table 2: List of gene, its function and the primer designed for this study
Insulin receptor substrate
1
217
203
248
246
226
22 | P a g e
Step no
Speed
Direction
Duration
1
4000 rpm
clockwise
10 seconds
2
3700 rpm
anticlockwise
8 seconds
3
2300 rpm
clockwise
10 seconds
4
3400 rpm
clockwise
7 seconds
5
2600 rpm
anticlockwise
10 seconds
6
3400 rpm
clockwise
10 seconds
Table 3: Details of gentleMAC Dissociator setting for samples homogenization.
at room temperature. The microtubes were further centrifuged at 12,000 rcf for 15
minutes at 4oC. After centrifugation, 3 phases were visible in the microtubes: aqueous
upper phase containing RNA, white interphase containing DNA and red lower phase
containing protein. The aqueous phase was carefully removed and transferred into a new
2ml microtube. Total RNA was precipitated by adding 525ul of Isopropanol (Sigma) to
each microtube and inverting them several times before incubating them for 15 minutes
at room temperature. Next, the microtubes were centrifuged at 12,000 rcf for 10 minutes
at 4oC, then removing the supernatant and collect the RNA pellet. The RNA pellets were
resuspended in 87.5ul of molecular grade water (First Base Pte Ltd).
2.7 DNase I digestion
DNase I was prepared by mixing 2.5ul of DNase I stock solution (Qiagen) with 10ul of
buffer RDD (Qiagen) for each reaction. The 12.5ul working DNase I was added to 87.5ul
of RNA and incubated at room temperature for 20 minutes. Lastly, the digestion was
stopped by incubating the solution at 70oC for 10 minutes.
2.8 RNA purification
RNA purification was done using Qiagen RNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen) according to the
manufacturer’s protocol.
23 | P a g e
With the 100ul DNase I digested RNA solution, 350ul of Buffer RLT was added,
followed by adding 250ul of 100% ethanol (Sigma). The entire volume was transferred to
a RNeasy spin column and centrifuged at 12,000 rcf at room temperature for 1 minute.
The flow through was discarded, 500ul Buffer RPE was added to the spin column and
centrifuged at 12,000 rcf at room temperature for 1 minute. The previous step was
repeated with a longer centrifugation time of 5 minutes. Subsequently, the column was
placed in a new 1.5ml microtube, 30ul of DEPC water was added to the spin column and
incubated at room temperature for 2 minutes. The spin column was centrifuged at 12,000
rcf for 5 minute at room temperature. Finally, the column was discarded and the
microtube containing purified RNA was kept at -80oC for storage.
2.9 RNA quantification
All RNA was quantified using a Nanodrop ND-8000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher
Scientific). 1ul of the RNA was pipetted onto the detector and the absorbance at 230, 260
and 280nm was read. All the values from the readings were used to determine the purity
and quantity of RNA in the sample.
2.10 RNA integrity assay
The integrity of total RNA extracted was analyzed using Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer and
Agilent RNA 6000 Nano Kit (Agilent Technologies) according to the manufacturer’s
protocol. RNA 6000 Nano dye concentrate was placed on the work bench to equilibrate
to room temperature for 30 minutes. Next, 550ul of RNA 6000 Nano gel matrix was
pipetted into a spin filter and centrifuged at 1,500 rcf for 10 minutes at room temperature.
65ul of the filtered gel was aliquoted into a new 1.5ml microtube and 1ul of RNA 6000
24 | P a g e
Pico dye concentrate was added. The mixture was vortexed for 10 seconds, followed by
centrifuging at 13,000 rcf for 10 minutes at room temperature. The gel-dye mix was
added to RNA 6000 nano chip and the chip was primed using the chip priming station,
before adding 1ul of heat denatured (70oC for 2 minutes) RNA samples and RNA 6000
Nano ladder, both mixed with 5ul of RNA 6000 nano maker, into the primed chip. The
chip was vortexed at 2400 rpm for 1 minutes using IKA vortexer (IKA laboratory
technology). Lastly the chip was inserted into Agilent 2100 bioanalyzer and the setup was
run according to the default program setting. RNA with RNA integrity number (RIN) of
more than 5.0 was deemed acceptable and suitable for gene quantification using real time
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) as recommended by the manufacturer protocol.
2.11 First strand cDNA synthesis
cDNA was synthesized using Applied Biosystems High-capacity cDNA Reverse
Transcription Kits (Applied Biosystems) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. 1ug of
total RNA was added to a reaction mix containing 5.8ul of 10x RT buffer, 100mM dNTP,
10x RT random primers and 50 U/ul MultiScribe Reverse Transcriptase. The solution
was adjusted to 20ul with molecular grade water, giving a final working solution of 1 ug
RNA, 1x RT buffer and random primers, 4mM dNTP and 25U reverse transcriptase. The
reactions were incubated at 25oC for 10 minutes, then 37oC for 120 minutes and lastly
85oC for 5 minutes. All cDNA was stored at -20oC
2.12 Real time PCR
Real time PCR was performed using Power SYBR Green PCR Master Mix (Applied
Biosystems). 20ng of cDNA was added to a reaction mix containing 12ul of 2x PCR
25 | P a g e
master mix and 2uM of both forward and reverse primers. The solution was adjusted to
20ul with molecular grade water, giving a final working solution of 20ng cDNA, 1x PCR
master mix, 100nM forward and reverse primers. Reactions were pipetted on a 384-well
plate and the plate was inserted into 7900HT Fast Real-Time PCR System (Applied
Biosystems) with the following setting in SDS 2.3 shown in table 4.
Gene of interest
SLC2A4, INSR, GCK,
IRS2, MEF2A,PKM2,
GYS1, HK2, AKT1,
AKT2, MSTN, PIK3Ca,
PIK3Cb, PIK3R1,
PDPK1, GSK3b, FOXO1,
GAPDH, BACT, RPL13a
PCR Process Temperature
Taq Polymerase
95oC
activation
Denaturation
95oC
Annealing/
extension
58oC
Duration
Cycle
10 minutes
1
15 seconds
40
60 seconds
Taq Polymerase
95oC
10 minutes
activation
SLC2A4RG, IRS1
Denaturation
95oC
15 seconds
Annealing/
58oC
60 seconds
extension
Table 4: Details of real time PCR setting for different gene of interest.
1
50
Dissociation curve analysis was done using the default setting in SDS v2.3, ramping 60oC
to 95oC at 0.2% increment speed over 15 minutes. The PCR products were run on a 1.5%
agarose gel and stained with ethidium bromide.
2.13 Gel extraction and sequencing
Selected PCR products (INSR, SLC2A4, IRS1, IRS2, PKM2, GCK, GYS1, MEF2A,
GAPDH) were extracted from agarose gel and purified using BMIAquick Gel Extraction
Kit (Qiagen) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. Gel slice with DNA fragment was
trimmed to 200mg and transferred into a 2ml microtube containing 600ul of Buffer QG.
The microtube was incubated at 50oC for 10 minutes with vortexing every 2 minutes
during the incubation. Next, 100ul of isopropanol was added to the microtube and the
26 | P a g e
whole volume was transferred to the BMIAquick column before centrifuging at 13,000
rcf for 1 minute at room temperature. The flow-through was discarded and 0.5ml of
Buffer QG was added to the column, followed by centrifuging at 13,000 rcf for 1 minute
at room temperature. Once again, the flow-through was discarded. After that, 0.75ml of
Buffer PE was added to the column and centrifuged at 13,000 rcf for 1 minute at room
temperature. Additional 1 minute of centrifugation at 17,900 rcf was done after the flowthrough was discarded. The column was placed into a clean 1.5ml microtube and 50ul of
Buffer EB was added to the center of the column. The column was allowed to stand for 1
minute, before centrifuging at 13,000 rcf for 1 minute at room temperature to elute the
DNA fragment.
Purified PCR products were sent to First Base Pte Ltd, Singapore, for sequencing.
Sequences received were analyzed and aligned against Human and Rhesus macaque
genome using ClustalW2. Also, sequences were aligned against cynomolgus macaque
genome using web-based program NCBI BLAST.
2.14 Real time PCR analysis
SDS v2.3 software was used to determine the Ct value of all reactions. Ct value of all
genes had been normalized against the geometric mean of three housekeeping genes,
GAPDH, BACT and RPL13a, to generate the Δct value for all genes expression for each
macaque. Group Δct was calculated by taking the average Δct of each individual
macaque gene expression. Using the comparative CT method, relative quantification (RQ,
2-ΔΔct) of each gene expression level was determined using the NGT group as a reference
group.
27 | P a g e
2.15 Statistical analysis
All statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 19.0 software package (IBM).
Independent student’s t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson
product-moment correlation coefficient were used for parametric data analysis and.
Mann–Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA and Spearman's rank
correlation coefficient were used on non-parametric data analysis. All descriptive statistic
will be presented in mean (standard deviation, SD), except for data that were highly
skewed, in which median (minimum-maximum) will be reported instead. All probability
values were 2-tailed, and p value less than or equal to 0.05 was considered statistically
significant for all tests.
28 | P a g e
CHAPTER 3
RESULTS
3.1 Primer efficiency and specificity
Primer efficiency tests were done by performing real time PCR with four DNA templates
of different concentration (1.0, 0.1, 0.01, 0.001 ng). Figure 6 shows the standard curve of
FOXO1 PCR. Using the formula:
, primer for
FOXO1 has 100% efficiency. Calculation of all primer efficiency displayed at least 90%
efficiency in all reactions (figure 7). Therefore the comparative CT method can be
deployed to calculate ΔΔct, RQ and fold change of the expression of genes of interest.
Figure 6: Standard curve of FOXO1 Real time PCR for primer efficiency calculation.
29 | P a g e
Figure 7: PCR efficiency of all the primers used in the experiments.
All primers designed were tested and optimized on adult cynomolgus macaque’s muscle
cDNA. Figure 8 shows an agarose gel electrophoresis of the PCR products using primers
listed in table 2. All primers yielded only one product of the intended size. Dissociation
curve analysis supported the agarose gel electrophoresis result by showing one peak for
all reactions (figure 9). Sequencing results for selected PCR products confirmed the
specificity of the primers, as ClustalW2 showed at least 95% and 98% homology against
human and rhesus macaque sequences respectively (table 5). With the cynomolgus
macaque genome available recently, primers and PCR sequences were aligned against
them using web-based program NCBI BLAST. The BLAST results showed the primer
sequence have at least 90% homology with cynomolgus macaque genome, and the PCR
sequences have at least 95% homology with the expected value not more than 0.0001.
30 | P a g e
Figure 8: 1.5% Agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR products. Top from left: 100bp
marker, SLC2A4, INSR,AKT1,AKT2,MEF2A,GYS1,MSTN,PIK3Ca, PIK3Cb, PIK2R1,
PDPK1, GSK3b. Bottom from left: 100bp marker, FOXO1,HK2, GCK, PKM2,
SLC2A4RG, IRS1, GAPDH, BACT, RPL13A.
% homology against
% homology against
Human
Rhesus macaque
INSR
97%
99%
SLC2A4
95%
99%
IRS1
98%
98%
IRS2
96%
98%
PKM2
98%
99%
GCK
97%
99%
GYS1
95%
99%
MEF2A
98%
99%
GAPDH
96%
99%
Table 5: Sequence homology of PCR products against human and rhesus macaque
sequences derived from multiple sequence alignment using ClustalW2
Gene
31 | P a g e
Figure 9: Dissociation curve analysis of PCR products. A: SLC2A4, B: AKT2, C:
GAPDH, D: HK2
32 | P a g e
3.2 Cynomolgus macaque nutrition-restricted IUGR model
3.2.1 Morphometric analysis: juvenile macaques from 0 to 9 months
Table 6 to 9 summarizes the juvenile macaques’ morphometric at 0 month, 3 months, 6
months and 9 months treatment. Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis to
access any differences between control and IUGR cohort. Macaques that were born less
than 154 days of gestational period were not included in this study as they were
considered premature neonates.
From the results, the IUGR cohort were 10% lighter than the control cohort at birth and
this difference in birth weight was significant (Z = -1.981, p = 0.048). After 3 months, the
two groups had similar weights (±1%) and this observation persisted throughout till they
were nine months old. For CRL and BMI, there were no significant differences observed
from birth to 9 months old.
Physical
Control cohort
IUGR cohort
Mann–Whitney U test
morphometric
(n = 24)
(n = 12)
(2-tailed)
at birth
U
Z
p
(0 month)
Weight (g)
323 (39.0)
291 (43.2)
86
-1.981
0.048
CRL (cm)
14.0 (1.49)
14.1 (1.67)
141
-0.103
0.918
BMI (kg/m2)
16.9 (2.91)
15.1 (3.85)
114
-1.007
0.132
Table 6: Neonates’ morphometric at birth. Values presented are in the format of mean
(SD). Highlighted row indicates p ≤ 0.05.
Physical
Control cohort
IUGR cohort
Mann–Whitney U test
morphometric
(n = 24)
(n = 12)
(2-tailed)
at 3 months
U
Z
p
old
Weight (g)
653 (101.8)
655 (61.2)
133
-0.352
0.724
CRL (cm)
20.1 (1.95)
19.3 (1.62)
115
-0.976
0.329
BMI (kg/m2)
16.3 (3.16)
18.0 (3.55)
112
-1.074
0.283
Table 7: infant macaques’ morphometric at 3 months old. Values presented are in the
format of mean (SD).
33 | P a g e
Physical
Control cohort
IUGR cohort
morphometric
(n = 24)
(n = 12)
at 6 months
old
Weight (g)
976 (113)
965 (104)
CRL (cm)
23.2 (1.77)
23.7 (2.13)
BMI (kg/m2)
18.2 (2.74)
17.1 (2.69)
Table 8: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric at 6 months
format of mean (SD).
Physical
Control
IUGR cohort
morphometric
cohort
(n = 12)
at 9 months
(n = 24)
old
Weight (g)
1178 (101)
1165 (113)
CRL (cm)
25.8 (1.76)
25.6 (2.13)
BMI (kg/m2)
17.9 (2.19)
18.1 (3.27)
Table 9: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric at 9 months
format of mean (SD).
Mann–Whitney U test
(2-tailed)
U
Z
p
143
-0.034
144
-1.008
114
-1.007
old. Values presented
0.973
0.313
0.314
are in the
Mann–Whitney U test
(2-tailed)
U
Z
p
115
-0.195
114
-0.234
108
-0.467
old. Values presented
0.846
0.815
0.640
are in the
The differences in weight, CRL and BMI between 0 to 3 months, 3 to 6 months and 6 to
9 months were calculated to determine if there were any significant fluctuations during
those three months period. Again, Mann-Whitney U test was used for such assessment. It
was noticed that IUGR cohort gained more weight from 0 to 3 months as compared to
control cohort. However, this result was not significant (p > 0.05). Weight gained from 3
to 6 months and 6 to 9 months were similar for both cohorts (figure 10). For the length of
the body (CRL), IUGR cohort grew slower from 0 to 3 month, but the growth accelerated
during 3 to 6 months as compared to control cohort. All these observations were not
significant (p > 0.05). Growth in body length was similar for both cohorts from 6 to 9
months (figure 11).
Interestingly, IUGR cohort had a 19% increase in BMI from 0 to 3 months. This increase
was significant as compared to the change in BMI for control cohort, in which there was
34 | P a g e
a slightly decrease in BMI from 0 to 3 months (Z = -2.05, p = 0.040). Fluctuations in
BMI continued from 3 to 6 months and 6 to 9 months (figure 12), but such fluctuations
observed were not significant (p > 0.05). Eventually, BMI stabilized at the 9 month old
point whereby both cohorts had similar BMI.
3.2.2 IVGTT analysis: juvenile macaques at 12 months
16 control juvenile macaques and 12 IUGR juvenile macaques had undergone IVGTT
and the rate of glucose clearance (k-value) was calculated. Mann-Whitney U test was
used to determine any significant differences. It was found that IUGR juvenile macaques
were 19% higher in the rate of glucose clearance as compared to the control cohort,
however this difference observed was not significant (Z = -1.811, p = 0.070). There were
no differences in their weight, CRL and IQ for both cohorts at 12 months old (table 10).
Figure 10: Trend of juvenile macaques’ weight and weight gains from 0 to 9 months.
Error bars denote SD. Numbers in blue and red show the average weight of control
juvenile macaques and IUGR juvenile macaques respectively. Numbers in bracket show
the weight gain between 2 periods. * indicates p < 0.05
35 | P a g e
Figure 11: Trend of juvenile macaques’ CRL and CRL gains from 0 to 9 months. Error
bars denote SD. Numbers in blue and red show the average weight of control juvenile
macaques and IUGR juvenile macaques respectively. Numbers in bracket show the CRL
gain between 2 periods.
Figure 12: Trend of juvenile macaques’ BMI and BMI changes from 0 to 9 months. Error
bars denote SD. Numbers in blue and red show the average weight of control juvenile
macaques and IUGR juvenile macaques respectively. Numbers in bracket show the BMI
gain/loss between 2 periods. * indicates p < 0.05
36 | P a g e
Parameters at
12 months old
Control cohort
(n = 16)
IUGR cohort
(n = 12)
Mann–Whitney U test
(2-tailed)
U
Z
p
81
-0.697
0.486
69
-1.262
0.207
92
-0.186
0.853
Weight (kg)
1.31 (0.13)
1.26 (0.17)
CRL (cm)
27.3 (1.00)
26.5 (1.81)
BMI (kg/m2)
17.6 (1.91)
17.9 (1.84)
IVGTT
4.17 (2.21)
4.95 (1.38)
57
-1.811
0.070
k-value
Table 10: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric and IVGTT k-value at 12 months old.
Values presented are in the format of mean (SD).
3.2.3 Physical and biochemical properties analysis: juvenile macaques at 15 months
For 15 months analysis, only the data of 6 control juvenile macaques and 2 IUGR
juvenile macaques were valid and analyzed. As the distribution of this set of data is
highly skewed, median and range were reported instead. Mann–Whitney U test was
deployed to access any differences between the two groups. From the results shown in
table 11, IUGR juvenile macaques had a higher glucose clearance, total cholesterol and
triglycerides. The differences observed were significant (p < 0.05). There were no
significant differences in weight, CRL, BMI, fasting glucose and insulin, HDL, LDL,
insulin resistance and sensitively indexes (p > 0.05).
3.2.4 Metabolic gene expression analysis: juvenile macaques at 15 months
RNA extracted from 8 muscle tissues achieved RIN of 6.2 to 7.8, confirming their
suitability for cDNA synthesis and real time PCR analysis. During the calculation of the
gene expression analysis shown in table 12 and figure 13, normalization against the
geometric mean of three housekeeping genes, GAPDH, BACT and RPL13a, were done
and relative quantification of each gene expression level was calculated using control
group as reference group. Mann–Whitney U test was used to check any significant
differences in the regulation observed.
37 | P a g e
parameters at 15
months old
Control cohort
(n = 6)
IUGR cohort
(n = 2)
Mann–Whitney U test
(2-tailed)
U
Z
p
4.0
-0.67
0.505
6.0
0.00
1.000
3.0
-1.00
0.317
Weight (Kg)
1.30 (1.13-1.42) 1.41 (1.26-1.56)
CRL (cm)
26.4 (25.0-27.3) 26.7 (24.8-28.5)
BMI (kg/m2)
18.9 (17.3-19.8) 19.8 (19.2-20.4)
IVGTT
3.46 (0.73-4.43) 6.01 (5.73-6.29)
0.0
-2.00
0.046
k-value
Fasting glucose
3.00 (2.10-5.70) 2.60 (2.40-2.80)
3.0
-1.03
0.306
(mmol/L)
Fasting insulin
8.45 (6.80-48.3) 7.75 (7.70-7.80)
4.0
-0.67
0.505
(mU/L)
Total cholesterol
2.77 (2.09-3.51) 4.52 (3.72-5.31)
0.0
-2.00
0.046
(mmol/L)
Triglycerides
0.40 (0.38-0.53) 0.90 (0.57-1.22)
0.0
-2.01
0.044
(mmol/L)
HDL (mmol/L)
1.08 (0.69-1.91) 1.28 (0.26-2.29)
6.0
0.00
1.000
LDL (mmol/L)
1.32 (1.04-2.12) 1.59 (0.70-2.47)
6.0
0.00
1.000
HOMA-IR
1.15 (0.66-12.2) 0.90 (0.83-0.96)
2.0
-1.33
0.182
QUICKI
0.37 (0.27-0.41) 0.39 (0.39-0.40)
2.0
-1.33
0.182
Table 11: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric and biochemical parameters at 15 months
old. Values presented are in the format of median (min-max). Highlighted rows indicate p
< 0.05
From the results, 11 genes were down regulated in IUGR juvenile macaques, with 6
genes having more than 2 to 6 fold decrease in expression level. However, only AKT2,
which was decreased about 6 fold in expression level in IUGR, was found to be
significant (U = 0.0, Z = -2.0, p = 0.046). 7 genes were found to be up regulated with a
magnitude of 1.4 to 7.6 fold. Out of the 7 genes, 3 genes were found to be significantly
up regulated: PIK3R1 (1.9 fold increase, U = 0.0, Z = -2.0, p = 0.046), IRS1 (5.4 fold
increase, U = 0.0, Z = -2.0, p = 0.046) and SLC2A4RG (7.6 fold increase, U = 0.0, Z = 2.0, p = 0.046). INSR and HK2 were considered not regulated with less than 10%
changes.
38 | P a g e
Gene
Relative quantification of IUGR group
(control group as reference)
Magnitude
Direction
Mann–Whitney U test
(2-tailed)
U
Z
p
SLC2A4
3.73 x
Down regulated
3.0
INSR
1.08 x
No Change
5.0
GCK
1.49 x
Down regulated
5.0
IRS2
2.68 x
Up regulated
3.0
MEF2A
3.33 x
Down regulated
1.0
PKM2
1.17 x
Down regulated
6.0
GYS1
5.31 x
Down regulated
2.0
HK2
1.08 x
No Change
5.0
AKT1
3.05 x
Down regulated
1.0
AKT2
5.96 x
Down regulated
0.0
MSTN
6.01 x
Down regulated
1.0
PIK3Ca
1.47 x
Up regulated
0.0
PIK3Cb
1.44 x
Up regulated
3.0
PIK3R1
1.90 x
Up regulated
4.0
PDPK1
1.66 x
Down regulated
3.0
GSK3b
2.05 x
Up regulated
4.0
FOXO1
1.73 x
Down regulated
3.0
IRS1
5.42 x
Up regulated
0.0
SLC2A4RG
7.63 x
Up regulated
0.0
Table 12: Relative quantification of IUGR juvenile macaques gene
control juvenile macaques. Highlighted rows indicate p < 0.05
-1.00
0.317
-0.33
0.739
-0.33
0.739
-1.00
0.317
-1.67
0.096
0.00
1.000
-1.33
0.182
-0.33
0.739
-1.00
0.317
-2.00
0.046
-1.67
0.096
-1.00
0.317
-1.33
0.182
-2.00
0.046
-1.00
0.317
-0.67
0.505
-1.00
0.317
-2.00
0.046
-2.00
0.046
expression against
3.2.5 Association of biochemical parameters with metabolic gene expression level:
juvenile macaques at 15 months
Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to look for association between
biochemical parameters, morphometrics and muscle gene expression levels in 15 months
juvenile macaques. 3 genes had significant correlations with IVGTT k-value: MSTN had
a negative correlation (ρ = -0.810, p = 0.015) (figure 14A) and IRS1 and SLC2A4RG had
positive correlations (ρ = 0.881 and 0.762 respectively, p < 0.05) (figure 14B and 14C).
AKT1 was positively associated with fasting glucose (ρ = 0.732, p = 0.039) (figure 14D).
No significant associations were observed for fasting insulin, lipid panel tests, insulin
resistance and sensitively indexes. (p > 0.05)
39 | P a g e
Figure 13: Graphic representation of relative quantification of IUGR juvenile macaques
gene expression against control juvenile macaques. Error bars denote range. * indicates p
< 0.05.
3.2.6 Physical and biochemical properties analysis: juvenile macaques at 24 months
(9 months after diet treatment)
At the time of data collection, 25 juvenile macaques had undergone diet treatment that
consisted of standard lab diet or high fat obesity diet. Out of the 25, 9 control and 9 IUGR
macaques had reached 9 months of diet treatment, on which measurements and muscle
biopsies were taken.
40 | P a g e
Figure 14: 15 months juveniles macaque scatterplots and linear trendline. A: MSTN
expression level against k-value, B: IRS1 expression level against k-value, C:
SLC2A4RG expression level against k-value, D: AKT1 expression level against fasting
glucose. Strenght of correlationship, ρ, and the p value are stated on the top right of the
plot.
For the 18 juvenile macaques, the grouping and the number of subjects were as follows:
1. Control & standard diet (C-S): n = 3
2. Control & high fat diet (C-H): n = 6
3. IUGR & standard diet (I-S): n = 3
4. IUGR & high fat diet (I-H): n = 6
As the distribution of this set of data is highly skewed, median and range were reported
instead, Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA was used to check on any differences among
the 4 groups, followed by 4 Mann–Whitney U tests to access any difference between 1)
41 | P a g e
C-S and C-H, 2) C-S and I-S, 3) C-H and I-H, 4) I-S and I-H. Differences between C-H
and I-S & C-S and I-H were not looked into, as their results were not meaningful for the
study.
Kruskal-Wallis analysis showed total cholesterol and HDL having significant differences
among the 4 groups (p < 0.05) (table 13). Further analysis using multiple Mann–Whitney
U tests indicated significant differences only between I-S and I-H & between C-S and CH for both total cholesterol and HDL (U = 0.0, Z = -2.32, p =0.020) (figure 15A), with
the high fat diet group having more cholesterol and HDL than standard diet groups . In
addition, I-S were significantly shorter in CRL than C-S (U = 0.0, Z = -1.96, p =0.050)
(figure 17C), and I-S were significantly lighter in weight as compared to I-H (U = 1.0, Z
= -2.07, p =0.039) (figure 15B). There were no significant differences for BMI, IVGTT
k-value, triglyceride, LDL, fasting glucose and insulin, as well as insulin resistance and
sensitively indexes among all 4 groups (p > 0.05).
3.2.7 Metabolic gene expression analysis: juvenile macaques at 24 months
RNA extracted from all 18 muscle tissues achieved RIN of 5.4 to 8.2, which were
acceptable for cDNA synthesis and real time PCR analysis. During the calculation of the
gene expression analysis shown in table 14 and figure 16, normalization against the
geometric mean of three housekeeping genes, GAPDH, BACT and RPL13a, were done
and RQ of each gene expression level was calculated using C-S group as a reference
group (RQ = 1.0) . Kruskal-Wallis one-way ANOVA was used to check on any
differences among 4 groups in gene expression level, followed by 4 Mann–Whitney U
tests to access any differences between 1) C-S and C-H, 2) C-S and I-S, 3) C-H and I-H,
42 | P a g e
4) I-S and I-H. Differences between C-H and I-S & C-S and I-H in gene expression were
not investigated, as their results were not meaningful for this study.
Kruskal-Wallis test showed no significant differences among the 4 groups in the
expression levels of all 19 genes (table 14). However, multiple Mann-Whitney U
comparison found some groups having significant differential expression levels in 6
genes (p < 0.05, table 14 & figure 16A), and listed as follows:
1. SLC2A4: C-S had 2.1 fold decrease compared to C-H (Z = -2.32, p = 0.020)
2. IRS2: C-H had 2.5 fold decrease compared to I-H (Z = -2.08, p = 0.037)
3. MEF2A: C-S had 1.5 fold decrease compared to I-S (Z = -1.96, p = 0.050)
4. HK2: C-S had 1.8 fold increase compared to C-H (Z = -2.32, p = 0.020)
5. MSTN: C-S had 3.9 fold decrease compared to C-H (Z = -2.07, p = 0.039)
6. C-S had 4.9 fold decrease compared to I-S (Z = -1.96, p = 0.050)
7. PIK3R1: C-S had 2.1 fold increase compared to I-S (Z = -1.96, p = 0.050)
No significant differences was observed for the other 13 genes in multiple comparison
tests (p > 0.05, figure 16B & 17)
43 | P a g e
Parameters at 24
months old
C-S
(n = 3)
C-H
(n = 6)
I-S
(n = 3)
I-H
(n = 6)
Kruskal-Wallis
p value
Weight (kg)
2.08 (1.65-2.42)
1.88 (1.58-2.38)
1.39 (1.24-1.71)
1.96 (1.71-2.11)
0.126
CRL (cm)
31.0 (29.3-32.3)
31.6 (29.0-33.8)
28.4 (26.8-28.8)
30.8 (27.0-32.0)
0.076
BMI (kg/m2)
19.9 (19.2-25.2)
19.3 (16.6-22.5)
19.3 (14.9-21.1)
21.6 (17.2-23.4)
0.409
5.39 (5.09-6.13)
5.50 (2.32-7.32)
5.49 (4.82-5.84)
5.23 (3.01-7.67)
0.825
2.40 (2.20-3.70)
3.20 (2.30-4.20)
2.60 (2.10-3.40)
2.70 (1.90-4.10)
0.706
26.5 (14.8-28.5)
19.2 (4.60-84.1)
15.7 (4.10-50.2)
40.1 (16.6-66.2)
0.402
2.85 (2.36-2.95)
4.79 (3.94-5.88)
2.94 (1.86-2.97)
4.90 (3.25-7.50)
0.010
0.37 (0.20-0.42)
0.39 (0.17-0.82)
0.31 (0.30-0.34)
0.39 (0.17-0.51)
0.835
HDL (mmol/L)
1.37 (1.29-1.60)
2.30 (1.94-3.00)
1.16 (1.15-1.28)
2.06 (1.56-2.81)
0.007
LDL (mmol/L)
1.32 (1.04-2.12)
2.13 (0.66-3.33)
1.52 (0.56-1.67)
2.23 (0.70-5.33)
0.337
HOMA-IR
3.04 (1.45-4.36)
2.60 (0.63-13.8)
1.47 (0.47-7.59)
5.94 (1.42-7.80)
0.691
QUICKI
0.32 (0.31-0.36)
0.33 (0.27-0.42)
0.36 (0.29-0.44)
0.30 (0.29-0.36)
0.679
IVGTT
k-value
Fasting glucose
(mmol/L)
Fasting insulin
(mU/L)
Total cholesterol
(mmol/L)
Triglycerides
(mmol/L)
Table 13: Juvenile macaques’ morphometric and biochemical parameters at 24 months old, 9 months after diet treatment.
Values presented are in the format of median (min-max). Highlighted rows indicate p < 0.05
44 | P a g e
Figure 15: Graphic repersentation of Juvenile macaques’ morphometric and biochemical
parameters at 24 months old, 9 months after diet treatment. Error bars denote range. *
beside parameter at x-axis indicates p ≤ 0.05 by Kruskal-Wallis test. * on top between 2
bar indicates p ≤ 0.05 by Mann–Whitney U test between 2 groups.
45 | P a g e
3.2.8 Association of biochemical parameters with metabolic gene expression level:
juvenile macaques at 24 months
Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to look for association between
biochemical morphometrics and muscle gene expression level in 24 months juvenile
macaques. 2 significant associations were observed: IVGTT k-value was negatively
correlated with MEF2A (ρ = -0.569, p = 0.014) (figure 18A) and fasting glucose was
negatively correlated with PKM2 (ρ = -0.529, p = 0.024) (figure 18B). No significant
associations was observed for fasting insulin, lipid panel tests, insulin resistance and
sensitively indexes (p > 0.05).
3.3 Adult cynomolgus macaque IGT model
3.3.1 Morphometric analysis: adult macaques
Table 15 shows the summary for the macaques’ morphometrics, before and after diet
treatment. Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis. Before diet treatment,
all 14 adults have an average weight of 6.95 ± 0.95kg and an average BMI of 13.62 ±
1.06kg/m2. After six month high fat diet, IGT macaques had a significant 64% weight
gain as compared to the weight before high fat treatment (Z = -3.130, p = 0.002). Also,
IGT macaques were 54% higher on BMI as compared to the BMI before high fat
treatment and this difference is significant (Z = -3.134, p = 0.002). No significant
difference was observed in CHL between the two groups (Z = -1.670, p = 0.095).
3.3.2 Biochemical analysis: adult macaques
Table 16 illustrates the macaques’ biochemical parameters before and after diet treatment.
Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis. From the analysis, IVGTT k-value,
46 | P a g e
Figure 16: Graphic representation of relative quantification of SLC2A4, IRS2, MEF2A,
HK2, MSTN, PIK3R1, INSR, GCK, PKM2, GYS1, AKT1 and AKT2 in C-H, I-S and IH juvenile macaques against C-S juvenile macaques as reference group, with significant
differences in A. Error bars denote range. * on top between 2 bar indicates p ≤ 0.05 by
Mann–Whitney U test between 2 groups
47 | P a g e
Figure 17: Graphic representation of relative quantification of PIKC3a, PIK2Cb, PDPK1,
GSK3b, FOXO1, IRS1 and SLC2A4RG in C-H, I-S and I-H juvenile macaques, against
C-S juvenile macaques as reference group. Error bars denote range.
48 | P a g e
Gene
SLC2A4
INSR
GCK
IRS2
MEF2A
PKM2
GYS1
HK2
Group
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
RQ
1.000
2.127
1.581
2.384
1.000
1.436
1.168
1.236
1.000
0.752
0.410
0.637
1.000
1.588
1.255
3.891
1.000
1.004
0.674
0.839
1.000
0.968
1.542
1.628
1.000
1.714
1.037
1.659
1.000
1.828
1.674
2.745
Kruskal-Wallis
p value
0.072
0.660
0.345
0.074
0.267
0.445
0.110
0.070
Multiple Mann–Whitney U tests
Group
1
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
Group
2
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
Z
p value
-2.32
-1.09
-0.80
-1.29
-1.29
-0.22
-0.32
-0.26
-0.52
-1.53
-0.48
-1.29
-1.03
-0.22
-2.08
-1.81
-0.26
-1.97
-0.64
-0.78
-0.26
-0.66
-1.28
-0.52
-1.81
-0.22
-0.32
-1.55
-2.32
-1.09
-1.44
-1.03
0.020
0.275
0.423
0.197
0.197
0.827
0.749
0.796
0.606
0.127
0.631
0.197
0.302
0.827
0.037
0.071
0.796
0.050
0.522
0.439
0.796
0.513
0.200
0.606
0.071
0.827
0.749
0.121
0.020
0.275
0.150
0.302
49 | P a g e
Gene
AKT1
AKT2
MSTN
PIK3Ca
PIK3Cb
PIK3R1
PDPK1
GSK3b
Group
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
C-S
C-H
I-S
I-H
RQ
1.000
1.143
0.976
1.175
1.000
0.993
0.985
1.061
1.000
0.255
0.204
0.178
1.000
1.157
0.941
0.892
1.000
1.180
1.313
1.010
1.000
1.193
2.089
0.987
1.000
1.392
1.318
1.229
1.000
1.047
0.715
0.967
Kruskal-Wallis
p value
0.611
0.933
0.076
0.631
0.824
0.273
0.563
0.562
Multiple Mann–Whitney U tests
Group
1
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
C-S
C-S
C-H
I-S
Group
2
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
C-H
I-S
I-H
I-H
Z
p value
-0.78
-0.22
0.00
-1.03
-0.26
-0.22
-0.64
0.00
-2.07
-1.97
-0.32
-0.27
-0.52
-0.22
-1.44
-0.52
-0.26
-0.22
-0.64
-1.03
-0.78
-1.96
-0.48
-1.55
-1.03
-1.09
-0.80
-0.26
-0.52
-1.09
-0.32
-1.03
0.439
0.827
1.000
0.302
0.796
0.827
0.522
1.000
0.039
0.050
0.749
0.796
0.606
0.827
0.150
0.606
0.796
0.827
0.522
0.302
0.439
0.050
0.631
0.121
0.302
0.275
0.423
0.796
0.606
0.275
0.749
0.302
50 | P a g e
Gene
Group
RQ
Kruskal-Wallis
p value
Multiple Mann–Whitney U tests
Group
Group
Z
p value
1
2
C-S
1.000
C-S
C-H
0.00
1.000
C-H
1.185
C-S
I-S
-1.53
0.127
FOXO1
0.838
I-S
1.259
C-H
I-H
0.00
1.000
I-H
1.008
I-S
I-H
-0.52
0.606
C-S
1.000
C-S
C-H
-1.29
0.197
C-H
3.046
C-S
I-S
-1.53
0.127
IRS1
0.116
I-S
6.767
C-H
I-H
-1.44
0.150
I-H
4.708
I-S
I-H
0.00
1.000
C-S
1.000
C-S
C-H
-1.29
0.197
C-H
4.660
C-S
I-S
-1.09
0.275
SLC2A4
0.431
RG
I-S
9.345
C-H
I-H
-0.64
0.522
I-H
10.909
I-S
I-H
-0.26
0.796
Table 14: Relative quantification of C-H, I-S and I-H juvenile macaques gene expression
against C-C-S juvenile macaques as reference group. Kruskal-Wallis test was deployed
for comparison across 4 groups, followed by 4 set of Mann-Whitney U test between 2
groups. Highlighted rows indicate p ≤ 0.05.
Figure 18: 24 months juveniles macaques scatterplots and linear trendline. A: MEF2A
expression level against k-value, B: PKM2 expression level against fasting glucose.
Strenght of correlationship, ρ, and the p value are stated on the top right of the plot.
51 | P a g e
Physical
morphometric
Before treatment
After treatment
Mann–Whitney U test
(2-tailed)
U
Z
p
NGT
IGT
NGT
IGT
(n = 7)
(n = 7)
(n = 7)
(n = 7)
6.80
7.12
6.73
11.72
Weight (kg)
0.0
-3.130
(0.95)
(1.09)
(0.75)
(1.15)
71.6
71.8
71.1
74.1
CHL (cm)
11.5 -1.670
(1.85)
(2.02)
(3.23)
(2.57)
13.3
13.8
13.3
21.3
BMI (kg/m2)
0.0
-3.134
(1.12)
(1.36)
(0.79)
(1.26)
Table 15: Adult macaques’ morphometric before and after diet treatment.
presented are in the format of mean (SD). Highlighted rows indicate p < 0.05.
0.002
0.095
0.002
Values
fasting insulin, HOMA-IR and QUICKI exhibited significant differences between NGT
and IGT macaques (p < 0.05). IGT macaques had a 22% decrease in IVGTT k-value (Z =
-2.108, p = 0.035), 5.2 times increase in fasting insulin value (t = Z = -3.130, p = 0.001),
5.8 times increase in insulin resistance index HOMA-IR (Z = -3.130, p = 0.002) and a 23%
decrease in insulin sensitivity index QUICKI (Z = -3.090, p = 0.002). No significant
differences were observed in the fasting glucose and the lipid panel tests between both
groups (p > 0.05).
3.3.3 Metabolic gene expression analysis: adult macaques
All RNA extracted from muscle tissue achieved RNA integrity number (RIN) of 5.5 to
8.0, stating that they were suitable for cDNA synthesis and real time PCR analysis.
During the calculation of the gene expression analysis, normalization against the
geometric mean of three housekeeping genes, GAPDH, BACT and RPL13a, were done
and RQ of each gene expression level was calculated using NGT group as a reference
group.
Table 17 shows the magnitude and direction of muscle gene regulation in IGT macaques.
Any changes less than 10% (< 1.10 fold) were not considered as the observed value can
52 | P a g e
Physical
morphometric
IVGTT
k-value
Fasting
glucose
(mmol/L)
Fasting insulin
(mU/L)
Total
cholesterol
(mmol/L)
Triglycerides
(mmol/L)
HDL
(mmol/L)
LDL
(mmol/L)
Before treatment
After treatment
NGT
(n = 7)
3.95
(0.86)
IGT
(n = 7)
4.03
(0.92)
NGT
(n = 7)
3.78
(0.57)
IGT
(n = 7)
2.91
(0.82)
2.89
(0.61)
2.93
(0.63)
2.96
(0.75)
18.5
(8.3)
20.5
(8.3)
2.75
(0.90)
2.69
(1.18)
Mann–Whitney U test
(2-tailed)
U
Z
p
8.0
-2.108
0.035
3.47
(0.59)
13
-1.474
0.140
18.3
(7.6)
94.1
(37.7)
0.0
-3.130
0.001
2.50
(1.08)
3.36
(0.83)
6.0
-1.807
0.071
0.73
0.69
0.71
0.80
21
-0.449 0.654
(0.43)
(0.41)
(0.42)
(0.36)
1.32
1.26
1.67
1.71
9.0
-1.873 0.061
(1.02)
(0.98)
(0.91)
(0.29)
0.80
0.80
0.74
1.28
9.0
-1.873 0.061
(0.42)
(0.42)
(0.36)
(0.58)
2.46
2.60
2.54
14.61
HOMA-IR
0.0
-3.130 0.002
(0.64)
(0.70)
(1.25)
(6.64)
0.34
0.34
0.35
0.27
QUICKI
0.0
-3.090 0.002
(0.017)
(0.016)
(0.049)
(0.020)
Table 16: Adult macaques’ biochemical parameters before and after diet treatment.
Values presented are in the format of mean (SD). Highlighted rows indicate p < 0.05.
be due to chance and experimental error. Mann-Whitney U test was used to access any
significant differences in the regulation observed. Figure 19 illustrates the regulation of
muscle gene expression level in a bar graph.
It was observed that 4 genes were down regulated with a magnitude of 1.1 fold to 2.8 fold,
whereas 13 genes were up regulated with similar magnitude. Out of these 13 up regulated
genes, AKT1 and AKT2 expression level were significantly up regulated in IGT
macaques by 1.36 fold and 1.29 fold respectively (p < 0.05). Also IRS1 expression level
was significantly down regulated in IGT macaque by 2.29 fold (Z = -1.981, p = 0.048).
GCK and IRS2 were not regulated and there were no significant differences in the
53 | P a g e
remaining 14 gene expression level, although some genes like SLC2A4RG exhibited a
larger decrease in expression level in IGT macaques (2.79 fold, p > 0.05).
Gene
Relative quantification of IGT
Mann–Whitney U test
(NGT as reference)
(2-tailed)
Magnitude
Direction
U
Z
p
SLC2A4
1.12 x
Down regulated
20.0
-0.575
0.562
INSR
1.22 x
Up regulated
14.0
-1.342
0.180
GCK
1.08 x
No Change
24.0
-0.064
0.949
IRS2
1.01 x
No Change
24.0
-0.064
0.949
MEF2A
1.33 x
Up regulated
14.0
-1.342
0.180
PKM2
1.25 x
Up regulated
17.0
-0.958
0.338
GYS1
1.17 x
Up regulated
16.0
-1.086
0.277
HK2
1.14 x
Up regulated
24.0
-0.064
0.949
AKT1
1.36 x
Up regulated
8.0
-2.108
0.035
AKT2
1.29 x
Up regulated
6.0
-2.364
0.018
MSTN
1.40 x
Up regulated
10.0
-1.853
0.064
PIK3Ca
1.15 x
Up regulated
17.0
-0.958
0.338
PIK3Cb
1.22 x
Up regulated
16.0
-1.086
0.227
PIK3R1
1.51 x
Up regulated
14.0
-1.342
0.180
PDPK1
1.26 x
Down regulated
13.0
-1.469
0.142
GSK3b
1.39 x
Up regulated
12.0
-1.597
0.110
FOXO1
1.66 x
Up regulated
10.0
-1.853
0.064
IRS1
2.29 x
Down regulated
9.0
-1.981
0.048
SLC2A4RG
2.79 x
Down regulated
15.0
-1.214
0.225
Table 17: Relative quantification of IGT macaques gene expression against NGT
macaques. Highlighted rows indicate p < 0.05
3.3.4 Association of biochemical parameters with metabolic gene expression level:
adult macaques
Using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient to check for association between
biochemical morphometrics and muscle gene expression level, there were a number of
significant associations observed. IVGTT k-value was negatively correlated with AKT2
expression level (ρ = -0.564, p = 0.036, figure 20A). Next, Fasting glucose value was
negatively correlated with IRS2 expression level (ρ = -0.557, p = 0.039, figure 20B).
Fasting insulin value was positively associated with AKT1 expression level (ρ = 0.617,
54 | P a g e
Figure 19: Graphic representation of relative quantification of IGT macaques gene
expression against NGT macaques. Error bars denote SD. * indicates p < 0.05, **
indicates p < 0.01
p = 0.019, figure 20C) and MSTN expression level (ρ = 0.600, p = 0.023, figure 20D),
whereas the same parameter is negatively correlated with SLC2A4RG expression level (ρ
= -0.641, p = 0.014, figure 20E). Interestingly, insulin resistance index HOMA-IR shared
similar relationships with AKT1, MSTN and SLC2A4RG as what fasting insulin had,
with slight difference in the strength of association (ρ = 0.596, ρ = 0.643 and ρ = -0.647
55 | P a g e
respectively, p < 0.05, figure 20F-20H). There were no significant associations observed
with the lipid panel tests and insulin sensitivity index QUICKI against any gene
expression levels (p > 0.05)
Figure 20: Adult macaques scatterplots and linear trendline. A: AKT2 expression level
against k-value, B: IRS2 expression level against k-value, C: AKT1 expression level
against fasting insulin, D: MSTN expression level against fasting insulin, E: SLC2A4RG
expression level against fasting insulin, F: AKT1 expression level against HOMA-IR, G:
MSTN expression level against HOMA-IR, H: SLC2A4RG expression level against
HOMA-IR. Strength of correlationship, ρ, and the p value are stated on the top right of
the plot.
56 | P a g e
CHAPTER 4
DISCUSSIONS
4.1 Primer validated for all gene expression studies in cynomologus macaque
One of the core objectives of these studies is to look at metabolic gene expression levels
in cynomolgus macaque. Due to a lack of cynomolgus macaque’s sequence information
in any genetic sequence database at the point of work, in house primer design based on
human and rhesus macaque sequences were necessary. As human, rhesus and
cynomolgus macaques share more than 90% identity in sequence, designing primers that
flank the conserved region of the gene of interest in both human and rhesus macaque
would have a higher chance of success when using them to amplify cynomolgus macaque
genes. All sets of primers yielded a single product of the expected sizes. Furthermore, the
sequence of PCR products indicated at least 95% homology with the source of the genetic
sequences used to design primer. In addition to the recent release of cynomolgus
macaque genome, BLAST results of primers and PCR products displayed at least 90%
and 95% homology respectively, confirming that all the primers were amplifying the
intended genes of interest and their locus. Hence they were validated to be used in real
time PCR for gene expression studies. All primers had an efficiency of at least 90%,
fitting the criteria of deploying comparative CT method to normalize gene of interest
with housekeeping genes to obtain Δct, then comparing the control group to obtain ΔΔct,
and lastly using 2-ΔΔct to calculate the fold change (in RQ).
4.2 Nutrition-mediated IUGR macaque were born lighter and experienced ‘catch-up
growth’
Our first objective for this study is to investigate any differences between normal and
57 | P a g e
nutrition-mediated IUGR infant macaque in their weight and body length for their first 9
months of life. After birth, it was found that IUGR neonates were 10% lighter than
control neonates and this finding was significant by Mann–Whitney U test. Our
observations were consistent with the literature presented on growth restricted neonates
having LBW in animal models, as well as in human. On average, the BMI of IUGR
neonates was 10% lower, but this was not significant by Mann–Whitney U test. Despite
lower birth weight, IUGR neonates had similar body length as compared to the control
neonates. Although the definition of IUGR is associated with LBW and SGA, there were
rodent models in which no significant differences in the body size of IUGR pups were
observed as compared to the normal pups (Schwartz et al, 1998; Simmons et al, 2001;
Coupe et al, 2009). Nevertheless, LBW is still the main criteria for human IUGR
offspring, which all validated IUGR animal models have reflected, and we have achieved
this criteria too. Hence we can conclude that our nonhuman primate IUGR model is valid.
Physical morphometric measures for both control and IUGR cohort at 3 months to 9
months were similar throughout. However an analysis on the changes of these physical
morphometrics in a 3 month period indicated a significant change in BMI in IUGR cohort
from birth to 3 months old as compared to control cohort. This was attributed to the
larger weight gain in IUGR infant macaques than the control infant macaques, but that
observation was not significant by Mann–Whitney U test. From this analysis, it we
demonstrated that IUGR infant macaques experienced “catch-up growth” during the first
3 months of their life. This phenomenon was also observed in other IUGR rodent models
with the hypothesis that IUGR subjects accelerated in growth to match with their peers,
but at a disadvantage in later life with early onset of metabolic disease (Coupe et al, 2009;
58 | P a g e
Shahkhalili et al 2010). The changes in weight, CRL and BMI were almost similar for
both cohorts from 3 to 6 months and 6 to 9 months, stating that both cohorts were
growing at the similar rate.
4.3 Higher glucose clearance rate, total cholesterol and triglycerides observed in
IUGR juvenile macaques at 15 months
Biochemical parameters of both cohorts showed that IUGR macaques had a higher
glucose clearance rate, total cholesterol and triglycerides at 15 months old. All these
findings were significant by Mann–Whitney U test (p < 0.05). From this, we
hypothesized that the observed differences could be the fetal programming in utero. As
IUGR infants need to “catch-up” with their normal peer, their overall metabolism
increases in order to gain weight and build. Hence glucose uptake is increased, which
explains the fast glucose clearance rate from the blood. Also, lipid metabolism is
accelerated to create an alternate energy source should glucose not be available (a
condition which was likely to happen in utero during nutrition restriction of mothers).
This survival response increases the production and absorption of fats, which causes an
increase in plasma lipid levels in IUGR juveniles macaques, 90% increase in total
cholesterol and triglycerides and 20% increase in HDL and LDL cholesterol.
4.4 Accelerated insulin-glucose signaling observed in IUGR juvenile macaques
We are interested to find any differences in gene expression level between both groups at
15 months. Real time PCR analysis and Mann–Whitney U test showed AKT2 was
significantly down regulated , and PIK3R1, IRS1 and SLC2A4RG were significantly up
regulated in muscle tissue of IUGR juvenile macaques (p < 0.05). These observations
59 | P a g e
were opposite of the gene expression in IGT adult macaques earlier in section 4.2,
suggesting that insulin and glucose signaling pathways were accelerated. Even though the
following differences were not significant by Mann–Whitney U test, IUGR juvenile
macaques had a lower HOMA-IR and higher QUICKI as control group (p > 0.05),
suggesting that they were more insulin sensitive. Also, myostatin expression level was
decreased in IUGR juvenile macaques, suggesting that muscle differentiation, growth and
associated metabolism were encouraged. All the results derived from gene expression
analysis indicated that cellular insulin and glucose metabolism in muscle tissue was
elevated, which support the phenotype observed in the biochemical results of IUGR
juvenile macaques.
High glucose clearance and insulin sensitivity persisted in 24 months old IUGR juvenile
macaques when comparing C-S against I-S. Also, the regulations of AKT, IRS,
SLC2A4RG, PIK3R1 and MSTN in muscle tissues were of the same pattern as the
observations made at the 15 months analysis, but only IRS2, PIK3R1 and MSTN were
significant (p < 0.05). These observations hint that fast insulin and glucose metabolism
continues for the past nine months.
4.5 Faster deterioration of insulin-glucose signaling in IUGR juvenile macaques
compared to control juvenile macaques exposed to a high fat diet
We are interested to investigate any changes in biochemical and physical morphometrics,
as well as expression levels of 19 metabolic genes, after 9 months of diet treatment.
Comparing C-S against C-H and I-S against I-H, macaques in high fat diet groups had
increased plasma lipid levels with total cholesterol and HDL having significance (p <
60 | P a g e
0.05). Looking at the changes between these two pairs, IUGR juvenile macaques had
significant weight gain after high fat diet treatment (p < 0.05), whereas control juvenile
macaques had a similar weight before and after high fat diet treatment. Interestingly,
control juvenile macaques had slightly better insulin sensitivity after high fat diet, based
on IVGTT, HOMA-IR, QUICKI and gene expression data, whereas IUGR juvenile
macaques were more insulin resistant after high fat diet. However, these data were not
statistically significant at this point of time. These seem to suggest that insulin
metabolism might be greatly altered in IUGR juvenile macaques and leads towards IGT
after a 9 months high fat diet challenge. On the other hand, the insulin and glucose
metabolism of control juvenile macaques under high fat diet started to accelerate similar
to the observations made in IUGR macaques at 15 months. Viewing the high fat diet as
an environmental stimulus of an unhealthy lifestyle, we theorized that IUGR subjects are
programmed to accelerate overall metabolism in order to adapt to a nutrient-deprived
environment, but this developmental trade-off that they have made and the exposure to an
unhealthy lifestyle predisposes them to metabolic disease at an earlier stage of life. This
could be due to the prolonged stimulation of the insulin-glucose pathway and when the
ability of the pathway to adapt to the stimulus is exceeded, this leads to pathology and
disease.
Gene expression data showed significant up regulation of HK2, IRS2, and SLC2A4, and
down regulation of MSTN in C-H as compared to C-S (p < 0.05). These observations are
similar to 15 months juvenile macaques with elevated insulin and glucose metabolism in
relation to mRNA expression level mentioned in section 4.6. There were no significant
differences in all gene expression data between I-S and I-H (p > 0.05).
61 | P a g e
4.6 Adult cynomolgus macaque IGT model established and validated
An objective in this study is to establish an adult nonhuman primate diabetic model using
cynomolgus macaques. From our study, macaques fed with 35% high fat diet for six
months significantly gained about 5kg (64%) in weight as compared to those continued
on standard lab diet (p < 0.05). IGT macaques were physically larger than normal
macaques in the NGT group, with little or no change in their length from head to heel
(figure 21). Thus, IGT macaques gained about 8kg/m2 in their BMI, to an average of
21.3kg/m2, 54% increase as compared to NGT macaques which had an average BMI of
13.3kg/m2. This indicated that the high fat diet used was effective in generating obese
macaques.
To test for diabetes, insulin resistance and sensitivity, IVGTT and measurement for
fasting glucose and insulin were deployed. Using the cut-off proposed by Amatuzio et al,
Figure 21: Photos of adult macaques involved in prediabetes study. Left: macaque in IGT
group. Right: macaque in NGT group
62 | P a g e
1953 for human, a mean k-value of more than 3 is considered normal glucose tolerance; a
mean k-value between 2.0 to 3.0 is considered IGT; a mean k-value between 1.5 to 2.0 is
considered mild diabetes, and a mean k-value less than 1.5 is considered severe diabetes.
Results of IVGTT showed that IGT macaques had a k-value of less than 3.0,
demonstrating macaques having impaired glucose tolerance. The control group displayed
normal glucose clearance rate with k-value of more than 3.0. Elevated fasting blood
glucose was observed in IGT macaques but this was not significant and the values were
within the normal range of less than 6.0 mmol/L. This was expected as normal glycemic
control is maintained prior to the progression to T2DM, from normal to IGT state. In
addition, fasting blood insulin in IGT macaques were significantly raised by 5 fold as
compared to control group. Also using fasting glucose and insulin values, insulin indexes
HOMA-IR and QUICKI were calculated. These 2 indexes had shown high correlation
and reliability with the gold standard hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp (Yokoyama et
al, 2004), whereby the latter is complicated and time consuming to perform. From the
calculations, IGT macaques were over 7.0 in HOMA-IR and under 0.30 for QUICKI,
revealing signs of insulin resistance and insensitivity in IGT macaques. All these signs
are similar to macaque models by Cefalu WT, 2000 and Bodkin, 2000, indicating early
T2DM progression. Such observations validated our nonhuman primate IGT model.
Lipid panel tests showed IGT macaques on average had a slight increase in total
cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL, due to higher fat intake. However such
increments observed as compared to control group were not significant and still within
the normal range, confirming that the animals were not suffering from hyperlipidemia, a
63 | P a g e
condition which may complicate our study on metabolic gene expression level in an IGT
subject.
4.7 Deterioration of insulin-glucose signaling observed in IGT macaque
The next objective is to characterize mRNA expression of genes involved in insulin and
glucose metabolism and check for any differences between normal and IGT macaques.
IRS1 expression level was decreased by 2.3 fold in muscle of IGT macaques and it was
significant by Mann–Whitney U test (p < 0.05). In addition, IRS2 expression level was
shown to have significant negative correlation with fasting blood glucose (p < 0.05).
These observations are consistent with other studies on IRS expression level in insulin
resistant cell lines and diabetic models. As IRS regulate the insulin signaling pathway at
the beginning by relaying insulin signals from the receptor to intracellular effectors, a
reduction in IRS will slow down the downstream signaling pathway, which leads to a
reduced sensitivity in response to glucose regulation. In response to insulin signaling
down regulation after IRS, insulin receptor production was observed to increase to
compensate for the reduced sensitivity (a negative feedback loop in muscle insulin
signaling pathway). This was shown by an up regulation of INSR by 1.2 fold in muscle
tissue of IGT macaques, but unfortunately such differences were not significant by
Mann–Whitney U test (p > 0.05), probably due to a small sample size.
On the other hand, AKT1 and AKT2 were found to be up regulated in muscle tissue of
IGT macaques. As the role of AKT and phosphorylated AKT are well established in
glucose transport and downstream signaling of insulin-glucose pathway, we hypothesized
that by up regulating AKT1 and AKT2, more kinases are available to be activated via
64 | P a g e
phosphorylated, and bring the insulin signaling back to normal level, after the pathway
has slowed down because of reduced IRS1. Also, more kinases are available trying to
compensate the reduced activity of AKT1 and AKT2 due to reduced PDPK1 activation.
Furthermore, AKT1 expression level was positively associated with fasting blood insulin
and HOMA-IR (p < 0.05), reinforcing our hypothesis on up regulation of AKT in insulin
resistant tissue.
Next, we observed a decrease in SLC2A4RG expression level in muscle tissue of IGT
macaques. Although this was not significant by Mann–Whitney U test (p > 0.05),
associations between fasting blood insulin and HOMA-IR were significant by Pearson
correlation coefficient (p < 0.05). Such correlation translates to a lower SLC2A4RG
expression level when fasting blood insulin and HOMA-IR increases. These observations
are similar to other studies on glucose transporter 4 and its regulatory gene, whereby a
decrease in SLC2A4RG will decrease SLC2A4 expression, hence leading to lower
glucose transporter 4 proteins on the membrane to facilitate glucose uptake. Expression
levels of SLC2A4 in muscle tissue of IGT macaques were slightly reduced, but this was
not significant by Mann–Whitney U test (p > 0.05), probably due to a small sample size.
Such reduction will lead to a decreased insulin sensitivity and increased insulin resistance
Lastly, myostatin expression was found to be increased in muscle tissues of IGT
macaques. This finding was not significant by Mann–Whitney U test (p > 0.05), but
associations between fasting blood insulin and HOMA-IR were significant by Pearson
correlation coefficient (p < 0.05). This result is similar to a study done by Hittel at el,
2009, whereby increased secretion and expression of myostatin was found in muscle
tissue of obese subjects with higher BMI and HOMA-IR than the lean subjects. As a
65 | P a g e
negative regulator of muscle differentiation and growth belonging to a member of the
TGF beta protein family, myostatin was predicted to have involvement in insulin and
glucose metabolism after studies showed hypermuscular myostatin null mice had reduced
fat mass and were spared from dietary-induced insulin resistance after diet treatment
(Zhao et al, 2005; Feldman et al, 2006). To date, the cellular mechanism of myostatin
regulating insulin and glucose metabolism has not established. However we speculated
that the reduced insulin- glucose signaling causes myostatin expression level to be up
regulated. This condition is similar to that of starving muscle whereby little glucose is
available and the oxidative catabolism of lipid is reduced or incomplete when such
alternative energy source is used (Pender at el, 2005).
To summarize, down regulation of IRS1, SLC2A4RG and up regulation of MSTN,
AKT1, AKT2 were seen in IGT adult macaques. The expression profiles of these five
genes were found to be altered as they are slowly progressing toward IGT.
4.8 Similar gene expression of AKT1, AKT2 and IRS1 between IUGR juvenile
macaques and adult IGT macaques - the transition point from insulin sensitive to
insulin resistance
A direct comparison in the insulin-glucose biochemical data and the gene expression data
between IUGR high fat (I-H) juvenile macaques and IGT adult macaques (table 18)
shows that I-H juvenile macaques are better in glucose clearance and sensitivity, and
have a faster insulin-glucose signaling as compare to IGT adult macaques. However
taking a closer look at AKT1, MEF2A, GSK3b and IRS1 expression levels, we observed
a similar pattern as what was observed in IGT adult macaques, but with a smaller
66 | P a g e
magnitude. This observation may indicate a transition point from being insulin sensitive
to developing insulin resistance. With all these observations, figure 22 depicts the
hypotheses proposed in this chapter: IUGR subjects programmed to have insulin-glucose
signaling accelerated in order to achieve an elevated growth rate to match its normal
peers, but the animals deteriorate earlier with unhealthy diet due to exhaustion of the
body’s ability to adapt.
Parameter
IUGR high fat (I-H)
IGT
juvenile macaques
adult macaques
IVGTT k-value
5.23
2.91
Fasting glucose (mmol/L)
2.70
3.47
Fasting insulin (mU/L)
40.1
94.1
HOMA-IR
5.94
14.61
QUICKI
0.30
0.27
Gene
RQ
SLC2A4
1.506
0.891
INSR
1.058
1.223
GCK
1.554
1.081
IRS2
3.087
1.010
MEF2A
1.254
1.334
PKM2
1.056
1.257
GYS1
1.600
1.167
HK2
1.647
1.142
AKT1
1.204
1.361
AKT2
1.077
1.290
MSTN
0.900
1.404
PIK3Ca
1.077
1.146
PIK3Cb
0.948
1.218
PIK3R1
0.769
1.506
PDPK1
0.932
0.796
GSK3b
1.352
1.386
FOXO1
0.801
1.659
IRS1
0.696
0.436
SLC2A4RG
1.167
0.359
Table 18: A direct comparison in the insulin-glucose biochemical data and the gene
expression data between IUGR high fat juvenile macaques and IGT adult macaques
67 | P a g e
Figure 22: A schematic diagram of the hypothesis on accelerated insulin-glucose
signaling and early development of metabolic disease in IUGR subject. Blue region
represents hyper-sensitive signaling, white region represents normal sensitivity, red
region represents slow signaling and insulin resistance. Red line shows the trend of an
IUGR offspring and blue line shows the trend of a normal offspring
4.9 Strengths and limitations of these studies
Although there have been many studies on the effect of IUGR on metabolic disease in
later life, these were not done on a nonhuman primate model. The strength of using a
nonhuman primate model is that they share many similarities in reproductive physiology
and disease progression with humans, In addition, interventional studies and sequential
tissue samples collection are not feasible in human, but are possible in nonhuman primate.
The findings in this thesis can be useful in translational research and screening of earlyonset T2DM in teenager and young adult, especially on those who were classified as
IUGR after birth. Further research on AKT1, MEF2A, GSK3b and IRS1 can be done as
they are potential molecular markers for diagnosing the transition point from insulin
68 | P a g e
sensitive to insulin resistance, whereby blood tests and OGTT cannot pick up the
differences.
This thesis does have its limitations. Due to logistic reasons, diet treatment is only
possible for six months for adult macaques. It will be better if the high fat diet treatment
for adult IGT macaques can last for nine months, such that the comparison between
IUGR high fat juvenile macaques and IGT adult macaques will be more controlled and
relevant. Also muscle biopsy and diet treatment of juvenile macaques at any time point
before 15 months is not possible, as the work of this thesis was started when most of the
juvenile macaques were reaching 18 months. Although most of the data were continuous
variables, some of them exhibited a non-normal distribution and many of them had
different variances (Levene's test p < 0.05), in which the assumption for parametric
statistics is not valid. Hence parametric tests, such as student t-test and ANOVA, cannot
be used for this thesis and statistical analysis were resorted to a more robust but less
powerful non-parametric tests Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test. As this is
still an ongoing study, some of the analyses in this thesis are preliminary. Further works
such as protein expression studies and epigenetic of the metabolic genes are required to
validate our proposed hypotheses.
69 | P a g e
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
This thesis has established an IGT adult cynomolgus macaque model with higher BMI,
elevated fasting insulin, increased insulin resistance and reduced glucose clearance which
are consistent with other nonhuman primate diabetic models. IGT macaques displayed
differential gene expression levels of down regulated IRS1, AKT1, AKT2 and
SLC2A4RG, and up regulated MSTN. These are indicators of abnormal regulation of
such genes in T2DM subjects.
This thesis also argues in favor of the nutrient-mediated IUGR cynomolgus macaque
model set up by us, in which IUGR neonates are lighter at birth and experience a catchup growth in the first 3 months of life, similar with other IUGR animal models. IUGR
and control cohorts subsequently have similar growth patterns until 15 months. The
IUGR group had accelerated insulin glucose metabolism and faster glucose clearance rate,
with higher cholesterol and triglycerides as compared to the control. With a 9 months
high fat diet treatment in place, IUGR juvenile macaques showed signs of deterioration in
insulin glucose metabolism, with gene expression leading towards the profile observed in
IGT adult macaques. On the other hand, control juvenile macaques on a high fat diet
displayed up regulation of SLC2A4 and HK2, inferring faster glucose uptake and
glycolysis. All these observations fit our hypothesis on distinctive features in metabolic
gene expression levels, physical and biochemical characteristics between normal and IGT
macaques, and between normal and IUGR offspring, with the refinement written as
follows: IUGR subjects are programmed in utero to have accelerated insulin-glucose
signaling in order to achieve an elevated growth rate to match its normal peers, but are
more prone to deterioration at an earlier stage of life when exposed to unhealthy diet due
70 | P a g e
to exhaustion in insulin-glucose signaling cascade after the body has adapted to the
accelerated pathway.
71 | P a g e
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[...]... tissue Islet and βcell Caloric 19% 75% decrease in β-cell mass and 60% decrease in islet restriction density observed Fasting hyperglycemia and glucose (30% ) intolerance observed in IUGR Table 1: Summary of studies using IUGR rodent model and exhibit changes in organs and gene involving in insulin- glucose metabolism Inoue et al., 2009 C57BL6J 11 | P a g e from glucose tolerance and insulin resistance... hyperinsulinemia, followed by IGT with declining glucose clearance, reported in k-value derived from intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT), and lastly continued deterioration of insulinglucose prior to signs of hyperglycemia and diabetes (figure 4) (Hansen and Bodkin, 1986; Bodkin, 2000; Wagner et al 2001; Tigno et al, 2004) T2DM prevalence increases in nonhuman primates with age and obesity (Bodkin,... levels of genes involved in insulin and glucose metabolism, physical and biochemical characteristics, before and after high fat diet treatment in nutrition-mediated IUGR model 3 To establish an adult nonhuman primate IGT model using cynomolgus macaques 4 To investigate the metabolic gene expression levels of genes involved in insulin and glucose metabolism, physical and biochemical characteristics in the... βcell Mild fasting hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia observed Became glucose intolerance, insulin- resistant and having 50% lesser in β-cells mass after 7 weeks Basal hepatic glucose production was significantly higher in IUGR PEPCK and G6Pase expression level was higher in IUGR β-cell mass and insulin content were reduced by 35–40% in IUGR No difference in glucose tolerant between 2 groups initially,... but IUGR were glucose intolerant after 3 month PEPCK and GR expression level was higher in IUGR Fasting hyperglycemia, reactive hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia observed Fasting hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance observed PEPCK and IGFBP-1 expression level was higher No difference in IGF-I and GR expression level IUGR have decrease in islet mass and insulin secretion PDX-1 protein and mRNA levels... the storage and usage of energy (primarily glucose) , as well as the growth and development of tissue Insulin plays a major role in blood glucose regulation as it promotes cellular glucose uptake, glycogen synthesis in skeletal muscle and liver, and inhibits gluconeogenesis in the liver (DeFronzo and 4|Page Ferrannini, 2001) It works in tandem with the glucose glycolysis pathway, utilizing this energy... metabolism is shown in figure 2 At the start of the pathway, insulin binds to a cell surface receptor that belongs to a sub-family of growth factor receptor tyrosine kinases: Insulin receptor (INSR) INSR propagates the signal to insulin receptor substrate (IRS) by phosphorylation and then phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) PI3K activates a PI3Kdependent kinases, PDPK1 (Alessi et al, 1997) which in turn phosphorylates... There is evidence linking changes in expression profile of insulin- glucose gene with T2DM Mice with IRS1 and IRS2 knockout exhibit insulin resistance and subsequently develop diabetes (Tamemoto et al, 1994; Araki et al, 1994) Reduced activation of PI3K due to decreased IRS1 signaling was observed in insulin resistant ob/ob mice and these observations were similar to streptozotocin induced diabetes rats... Bodkin N.L, 2000 1.6 Hypotheses and objectives The proposed hypotheses in this thesis are: 1 Metabolic gene expression levels, physical and biochemical characteristics are different in IUGR offspring displaying abnormal catch-up growth, as compared to normal offspring at the early juvenile stage of life 2 Metabolic gene expression levels of genes involved in insulin and glucose metabolism, physical and. .. SD RIN HDL LDL Type 2 diabetes mellitus World Health Organization Oral glucose tolerance test Impaired glucose tolerance Insulin receptor substrate Insulin receptor Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase dependent kinases Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta Glycogen synthase Forkhead box O1 Glucokinase Hexokinase Pyruvate kinase Glucose transporter 4 Myocyte Enhancer Factor 2A Glucose ... Fasting hyperglycemia and glucose (30% ) intolerance observed in IUGR Table 1: Summary of studies using IUGR rodent model and exhibit changes in organs and gene involving in insulin -glucose metabolism. .. SLC2A4RG, and fold decrease in MSTN, indicating elevated insulin -glucose signaling All these conclude that the insulin glucose metabolism in IUGR subjects were accelerated at the beginning and thus... protein serine/threonine kinase protein serine/threonine kinase transmembrane receptor protein tyrosine kinase adaptor 3-phosphoinositidedependent protein serine/threonine kinase phosphorylation and