Effect of ablation of Sfrp5 on gene expression in gonadal white adipose tissue

We identified secreted frizzled-related protein-5 (Sfrp5) as a transcript that is upregulated during adipocyte differentiation and that is increased in white adipose tissue (WAT) of obese mice, compared to lean mice. To investigate the function of sFRP5 in adipose tissue biology, we studied sFRP5Q27stop mice, in which ENU mutagenesis was used to create a premature stop codon at Gln27, thereby creating a likely null allele. Male wild-type or Sfrp5 KO (Q27Stop) mice were fed a high-fat diet from the ages of four weeks to twelve weeks. At twelve weeks of age, mice were euthanized. Total RNA was then isolated from gonadal WAT and RNA was analyzed by Affymetrix microarrays. Seven wild-type and eight Sfrp5 KO mice were used.本研究鉴定出分泌型卷曲相关蛋白5（secreted frizzled-related protein-5, Sfrp5）为一种在脂肪细胞分化过程中上调的转录本；相较于瘦型小鼠，该转录本在肥胖小鼠的白色脂肪组织（white adipose tissue, WAT）中表达水平升高。为探究sFRP5在脂肪组织生物学中的功能，我们对Sfrp5Q27stop突变小鼠展开研究：该品系小鼠通过ENU诱变（N-乙基-N-亚硝基脲诱变）在谷氨酰胺27位点引入提前终止密码子，由此获得该基因的疑似无效等位基因。将4周龄至12周龄的雄性野生型小鼠与Sfrp5敲除（Sfrp5 KO, Q27Stop）小鼠饲喂高脂饮食。于12周龄时对所有小鼠实施安乐死，随后从性腺白色脂肪组织中提取总RNA，采用Affymetrix基因芯片对RNA进行表达分析。本实验共纳入7只野生型小鼠与8只Sfrp5敲除小鼠。