Pharmacological doses of niacin stimulate the expression of genes involved in carnitine uptake and biosynthesis and improve the carnitine status of obese Zucker rats

Table 3 Relative mRNA concentrations of PPARα and PPARδ target genes involved in β-oxidation (ACOX1, SCAD, MCAD, LCAD) and genes involved in carnitine uptake (OCTN2) and biosynthesis (BBD, TMABA-DH) in liver and gastrocnemius muscle of lean rats (Lean), obese Zucker rats fed a control diet (Obese Control) or obese Zucker rats fed a diet supplemented with 780 mg niacin/kg diet (Obese Niacin) for 4 wk ¹

	Lean	Obese control	Obese niacin
	Relative mRNA concentration (fold of obese control = 1.00)
Skeletal muscle
ACOX1	1.49 ± 0.29^ab	1.00 ± 0.21^b	1.89 ± 0.36^a
SCAD	1.68 ± 0.46^ab	1.00 ± 0.40^b	2.69 ± 0.70^a
MCAD	1.40 ± 0.30^ab	1.00 ± 0.34^b	2.24 ± 0.47^a
LCAD	1.43 ± 0.46^ab	1.00 ± 0.25^b	3.78 ± 1.32^a
SLC22A5	1.25 ± 0.31^ab	1.00 ± 0.18^b	1.93 ± 0.42^a
Liver
ACOX1	0.92 ± 0.14^b	1.00 ± 0.12^b	1.42 ± 0.07^a
SCAD	0.91 ± 0.09^b	1.00 ± 0.14^b	1.57 ± 0.08^a
MCAD	1.19 ± 0.13^b	1.00 ± 0.14^b	1.76 ± 0.22^a
LCAD	0.99 ± 0.17^b	1.00 ± 0.14^b	1.57 ± 0.08^a
SLC22A5	0.78 ± 0.06^b	1.00 ± 0.07^b	1.42 ± 0.12^a
BBOX1	0.76 ± 0.08^b	1.00 ± 0.08^b	1.54 ± 0.06^a
ALDH9	1.00 ± 0.08^b	1.00 ± 0.08^b	1.40 ± 0.14^a

¹Data are expressed as means ± SEM. n = 10 rats/group. ^a,bValues with different superscript letters differ, P < 0.05.

ISSN: 2050-6511