Endogenous renal adiponectin drives gluconeogenesis through enhancing pyruvate and fatty acid utilization

Adiponectin is an important secretory protein, primarily produced in adipose tissue. However, low but detectable expression of adiponectin can be observed in cell types beyond adipocytes, particularly in kidney tubular cells, but its local renal role is unknown. We assessed the role of renal adiponectin by utilizing male doxycycline inducible kidney tubular cell-specific adiponectin overexpression or knockout mice. Kidney-specific adiponectin overexpression induces a doubling of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase expression and enhanced pyruvate-mediated glucose production, tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates and an upregulation of fatty acid oxidation (FAO). The inhibition of FAO reduces the adiponectin-induced enhancement of glucose production, highlighting the role of FAO in the induction of renal gluconeogenesis. In contrast, kidney-specific adiponectin deleted mice exhibit enhanced glucose tolerance as well as a lower utilization and greater accumulation of lipid species. In summary, renal adiponectin is a potent inducer of gluconeogenesis by driving enhanced FAO in the kidney and underline the important systemic role of renal gluconeogenesis. Comparison of control kidney and adiponectin overexpressed kidney under normal chow diet condition.