Characterizing the metabolic response of the zebrafish kidney to overfeeding.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to understand the direct effects of diet-induced obesity on kidney metabolic function in zebrafish.
Results Summary
Overfeeding led to significant metabolic changes in kidney tissue, including perturbations in glycolysis and tryptophan metabolism, suggesting a role in obesity-related kidney dysfunction. The study identified 235 significantly different metabolites between control and overfed groups.
Population
Zebrafish
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
8 weeks
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
overfeeding diet | increase | kidney metabolomes | zebrafish | - | differed significantly and consistently | #1 |
overfeeding diet | increase | features | zebrafish | 235 | significantly different | #2 |
overfeeding diet | increase | features | zebrafish | 125 | upregulated | #3 |
overfeeding diet | decrease | features | zebrafish | 110 | downregulated | #4 |
overfeeding diet | increase | glycolysis pathways | zebrafish | - | perturbations | #5 |
overfeeding diet | increase | fatty acid synthesis pathways | zebrafish | - | perturbations | #6 |
overfeeding diet | increase | tryptophan metabolism | zebrafish | - | perturbations | #7 |
diet-induced obesity | increase | kidney tissue | zebrafish | - | leads to metabolic changes | #8 |
overfeeding diet | increase | metabolic pathways including glycolysis and tryptophan metabolism | obese zebrafish | - | revealed perturbations | #9 |
obesity | increase | kidney | - | - | alters metabolism | #10 |
Obesity is a global epidemic and risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease. Obesity induces systemic changes in metabolism, but how it affects kidney metabolism specifically is not known. Zebrafish have previously been shown to develop obesity-related kidney pathology and dysfunction when fed hypercaloric diets. To understand the direct effects of obesity on kidney metabolic function, we treated zebrafish for 8 wk with a control and an overfeeding diet. At the end of treatment, we assessed changes in kidney and fish weights and used electron microscopy to evaluate cell ultrastructure. We then performed an untargeted metabolomic analysis on the kidney tissue of fish using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry and used mummichog and gene set enrichment analysis to uncover differentially affected metabolic pathways. Kidney metabolomes differed significantly and consistently between the control and overfed diets. Among 9,593 features, we identified 235 that were significantly different (P < 0.05) between groups (125 upregulated in overfed diet, 110 downregulated). Pathway analysis demonstrated perturbations in glycolysis and fatty acid synthesis pathways, and analysis of specific metabolites points to perturbations in tryptophan metabolism. Our key findings show that diet-induced obesity leads to metabolic changes in the kidney tissue itself and implicates specific metabolic pathways, including glycolysis and tryptophan metabolism in the pathogenesis of obesity-related kidney disease, demonstrating the power of untargeted metabolomics to identify pathways of interest by directly interrogating kidney tissue.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Obesity causes systemic metabolic dysfunction, but how this affects kidney metabolism is less understood. This study used ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry to analyze the kidneys of overfed zebrafish. Metabolites in the kidneys of obese zebrafish revealed perturbations in metabolic pathways including glycolysis and tryptophan metabolism. These data suggest obesity alters metabolism within the kidney, which may play an important role in obesity-related kidney dysfunction.