Indication of metabolic inflexibility to food intake in spontaneously overweight Labrador Retriever dogs

Abstract

BackgroundObesity in dogs is an increasing problem associated with morbidity, shortened life span and poor life quality. Overweight dogs exhibit postprandial hyperlipidaemia, highlighting the need to identify potential dysregulations in lipid metabolism. This study investigated metabolites related to lipid metabolism (i.e. acylcarnitines and taurine) and phospholipids in a feed-challenge test and aimed to identify metabolic variations in spontaneously overweight dogs. Twenty-eight healthy male Labrador Retriever dogs were included, 12 of which were classified as lean (body condition score (BCS) 4–5 on a 9-point scale) and 16 as overweight (BCS 6–8). After overnight fasting (14–17 h), fasting blood samples were collected and dogs were fed a high-fat meal followed by postprandial blood sample collection hourly for 4 h. Liquid chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOFMS) was used to identify plasma metabolites and phospholipids. Multivariate models, mixed model repeated measures and linear regression analyses were used for data interpretation.ResultsIn all dogs, propionylcarnitine, stearoylcarnitine and nine phospholipids increased in response to food intake, while vaccenylcarnitine decreased (P ≤ 0.005 for all). Overall, carnitine and acetylcarnitine signal areas in the feed-challenge test were lower in overweight dogs (P ≤ 0.004). Notably, fasting plasma acetylcarnitine was lower in overweight dogs than in lean dogs (P = 0.001) and it did not change in response to feeding. The latter finding was in contrast to the decreased acetylcarnitine signal area found in lean dogs at one hour postprandially (P < 0.0001). One fasting phosphatidylcholine (PCaa C38:4) was higher in prominently overweight dogs (BCS > 6) than in lean dogs (P < 0.05).ConclusionsPlasma carnitine status was overall lower in spontaneously overweight dogs than in lean dogs in this cohort of healthy Labrador Retriever dogs, indicating a potential carnitine insufficiency in the overweight group. The acetylcarnitine response in overweight dogs indicated decreased fatty acid oxidation at fasting and metabolic inflexibility to food intake. Further studies on metabolic inflexibility and its potential role in the metabolism of overweight dogs are warranted.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-019-1845-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Pharmacokinetic and metabolomic analyses of Mangiferin calcium salt in rat models of type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

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Comparative metabolome analysis of serum changes in sheep under overgrazing or light grazing conditions

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Comparative metabolome analysis of serum changes in sheep under overgrazing or light grazing conditions

“…Stearoylcarnitine and L-palmitoylcarnitine are long-chain acylcarnitines, which are markers of lipid oxidation that function as chaperones for fatty-acyl CoA transport into the mitochondria [13], can enhance energy and physical function as well as play a major role in the transfer and use of lipids [14]. Here, a higher level of stearoylcarnitine and L-palmitoylcarnitine was observed in the OG sheep than in the LG sheep, which reflected the elevated fatty acid metabolism in the former [15,16]. This result was consistent with the lower serum levels of NEFAs in the present study and our previously obtained transcriptomic data (unpublished data).…”