Adiponectin mRNA levels in the abdominal adipose depots of nondiabetic women

BACKGROUND: The human adiponectin gene has been implicated in the pathophysiology of obesity, type II diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and atherosclerosis. Investigation of the physiological functions of the adiponectin gene in humans was mainly conducted at the levels of plasma proteins or DNA polymorphisms. The depot-specific adiponectin mRNA levels also could be relevant to these physiological functions. OBJECTIVES: The relation between the adipose depot-specific adiponectin mRNA expression levels and various metabolic factors, including BMI, fasting plasma glucose, insulin, triglycerides (TGs) and HDL-cholesterol and insulin resistance index by HOMA, was investigated among 66 nondiabetic women using quantitative real-time PCR. RESULTS: The subcutaneous relative adiponectin mRNA levels (SRAmR) correlated significantly with the omental relative adiponectin mRNA levels (ORAmR) (gamma = 0.468, P = 0.0001). The SRAmR correlated inversely with the fasting plasma glucose with a borderline significance (gamma = -0.35, P = 0.058). On the other hand, the ORAmR correlated negatively with serum TG levels with the adjustment for age (gamma = -0.33, P = 0.007) or age plus BMI (gamma = -0.27, P = 0.027). CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the adiponectin mRNA levels in different adipose depots were at least related to certain phenotypes of metabolic syndrome. The expression levels of adiponectin in the omental adipose depots are related to TG metabolism.