Effect of Visfatin on Metabolic Profiles of an Animal Model of Type 2 Diabetes

Novel adipocytokines including visfatin present differentially in obese patients and are suggested to influence the development of type 2 diabetes in the background of obesity by modifying how insulin performs its function. Visfatin, in contrast to adiponectin was considered a harmful adipocytokine. This study examines the effect of visfatin administration on body weight, blood glucose, glucose tolerance and islet morphology in Goto‐Kakizaki (GK) rats, an animal model of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Visfatin (4 ng/Kg body weight) was given intraperitoneally to adult GK rats for 8 weeks. Control rats received an equal amount of the vehicle. Body weight and glucose level were measured every 2 weeks. Glucose tolerance test was performed at the end of the experiment. Immunofluorescence staining was performed to identify the pattern of distribution of visfatin in pancreatic islet cells of GK rats treated with or without visfatin. Co‐localization study was performed to determine whether visfatin resides with either, insulin, glucagon, somatostatin or pancreatic polypeptide (PP) in the islets of Langerhans. Immunofluorescence study shows that many islet cells in pancreatic islets of Langerhans of GK rats contain visfatin, where it co‐localizes mainly with insulin. The number of visfatin and insulin‐containing cells in pancreatic islets of GK rats treated with visfatin increased significantly (p < 0.05). Although most of the visfatin‐positive cells contain insulin, some islet cells located in the periphery of pancreatic islets also contain visfatin. Treatment with visfatin did not significant increase weight gain in GK rats compared to non‐treated control. Glucose handling was markedly (p < 0.05) improved in GK rats treated with visfatin. In conclusion, visfatin may play a role in the regulation of glucose metabolism.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported by UAE University Research Grant # 02‐13‐11/08.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.