Different tumor necrosis factor-α–associated leptin expression in rats with dimethylnitrosamine and bile duct ligation–induced liver cirrhosis

Although serum leptin concentrations are reported by several studies to increase in patients with liver cirrhosis, the mechanisms underpinning this increase remain unclear. Circulating tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) concentrations are also recognized to increase in liver cirrhosis. Furthermore, TNF-α administration to rodents results in increased expression and secretion of leptin from adipose tissue in a manner dependent on type 1 TNF-α receptor (TNF-RI). The present study was undertaken to examine adipose leptin expression and to explore potential relationships between leptin expression and TNF-α in subjects with liver cirrhosis. Liver cirrhosis was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats by dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) administration or by common bile duct ligation (BDL). Ad libitum and pair-fed animals constituted controls. Serum leptin and TNF-α concentrations were determined by immunoassay. Gene expression was determined by the reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction, and protein levels were measured by Western blotting. Serum leptin values after adjustment of body fat mass in DMN-treated rats were significantly higher than in pair-fed or ad libitum groups. Leptin mRNA and protein levels in epididymal fat in DMN rats increased by 1.8-fold and 2.3-fold, respectively, as compared with ad libitum controls, and by 4-fold and 6-fold, respectively, as compared with the pair-fed group. Epididymal TNF-α and membranous TNF-RI (mTNF-RI) concentrations were both 2.3 times higher in DMN rats than in ad libitum controls but did not differ between ad libitum and pair-fed groups. Adipose leptin protein levels correlated directly with TNF-α and mTNF-RI concentrations in combined DMN, ad libitum, and pair-fed rats (r = 0.64 and r = 0.49, respectively; P < .05). In BDL-treated rats, however, serum and adipose leptin concentrations were identical to those in ad libitum controls despite 2.1-fold and 2.4-fold increase in epididymal TNF-α and mTNF-RI, respectively. TNF-α administration to fasting control animals increased serum and adipose leptin concentrations significantly. The observed TNF-α–associated leptin up-regulation in DMN–induced, but not in BDL–induced, cirrhotic rats is consistent with distinctly different roles for TNF-α in rats with nonbiliary, as opposed to biliary, cirrhosis.