Gene expression profile in pancreatic islets from control rats fed a standard chow diet and obese rats fed a high-caloric cafeteria diet for 30 days.

Changes in the secretion profile of visceral-pancreatic white adipose tissue (pWAT) due to diet-induced obesity are partially responsible for increased beta cell replication, suggesting that a crosstalk between pWAT and beta cells may play a role in regulating beta cell plasticity. The molecular mechanisms underlying this cross-talk are still not fully understood. The aim of this study was to integrate transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic data to unravel the cross-talk between adipose tissue and pancreatic islets during evolution of obesity. Pancreatic islets from control lean and cafeteria diet fed obese rats were obtained. RNA was extracted and processed for further hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays (GeneChip Rat Genome 230 2.0 (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA)).