Project description:Regulation between the fed and fasted state in mammals is partially controlled by peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-alpha (PPAR-alpha). Expression of the receptor is high in liver, heart and skeletal muscle, but decreases with age. A combined 1H NMR spectroscopy and GC-MS metabolomic approach has been used to examine metabolism in liver, heart, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue in PPAR-alpha null mice and wild type controls during ageing between 3-13 months. For the PPAR-alpha-null mouse multivariate statistics highlighted hepatic steatosis, reductions in the concentrations of glucose and glycogen in both liver and muscle tissue, and profound changes in lipid metabolism in each tissue, reflecting known expression targets of the PPAR-alpha receptor. Hepatic glycogen and glucose also decreased with age for both genotypes. These findings indicate the development of age related hepatic steatosis in the PPAR-alpha-null mouse, with the normal metabolic changes associated with ageing exacerbating changes associated with genotype. Furthermore, the combined metabolomic and multivariate statistics approach provides a robust method for examining the interaction between age and genotype. </p> The GC-MS assay for this study can be found in the MetaboLights study MTBLS314.
