Comparison of lipid and fatty acid composition of the liver, subcutaneous and intra-abdominal adipose tissue, and serum

Anna Kotronen (Corresponding Author), Tuulikki Seppänen-Laakso, Jukka Westerbacka, Tuula Kiviluoto, Johanna Arola, Anna-Liisa Ruskeepää, Hannele Yki-Järvinen, Matej Orešič

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    133 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Ceramides may mediate saturated fat–induced insulin resistance, but there are no data comparing ceramide concentrations between human tissues. We therefore performed lipidomic analysis of human subcutaneous (SCfat) and intra‐abdominal (IAfat) adipose tissue, the liver, and serum in eight subjects. The liver contained (nmol/mg tissue) significantly more ceramides (1.5–3‐fold), sphingomyelins (7–8‐fold), phosphatidylethanolamines (10–11‐fold), lysophosphatidylcholines (7–12‐fold), less ether‐linked phosphatidylcholines (2–2.5‐fold) but similar amounts of diacylglycerols as compared to SCfat and IAfat. The amounts of ceramides and their synthetic precursors, such as palmitic (16:0) free fatty acids and sphingomyelins, differed considerably between the tissues. The liver contained proportionally more palmitic, stearic (18:0), and long polyunsaturated fatty acids than adipose tissues. Stearoyl‐CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) activity reflected by serum, estimated from the 16:1/16:0‐ratio, was closely related to that in the liver (r = 0.86, P = 0.024) but not adipose tissues. This was also true for estimated elongase (18:1/16:1, r = 0.89, P = 0.01), and Δ5 (20:4/20:3, r = 0.89, P = 0.012) and Δ6 (18:3[n‐6]/18:2, r = 1.0, P < 0.001) desaturase activities. We conclude that the human liver contains higher concentrations of ceramides and saturated free fatty acids than either SCfat or IAfat.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)937-944
    Number of pages8
    JournalObesity
    Volume18
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

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