We have previously described that neonate rats supplemented with physiological doses of oral leptin during lactation become more protected against overweight in adulthood. The purpose of this study was to characterize further the long-term effects on glucose and leptin homeostasis and on food preferences. Neonate rats were supplemented during lactation with a daily oral dose of leptin or the vehicle. We followed body weight and food intake of animals until the age of 15 months, and measured glucose, insulin, and leptin levels under different feeding conditions: ad libitum feeding, 14-h fasting, and 3-h refeeding after fasting. An oral glucose tolerance test and a leptin resistance test were performed. Food preferences were also measured. Leptin-treated animals were found to have lower body weight in adulthood and to eat fewer calories than their controls. Plasma insulin levels were lower in leptin-treated animals than in their controls under the different feeding conditions, as was the increase in insulin levels after food intake. The homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance index was significantly lower in leptin-treated animals, and the oral glucose tolerance test also indicated higher insulin sensitivity in leptin-treated animals. In addition, these animals displayed lower plasma leptin levels under the different feeding conditions and were also more responsive to exogenous leptin administration. Leptin-treated animals also showed a lower preference for fat-rich food than their controls. These observations indicate that animals supplemented with physiological doses of oral leptin during lactation were more protected against obesity and metabolic features of the metabolic syndrome.

Fatty acid (FA) oversupply in skeletal muscle is related with metabolic disorders associated to obesity, and also with normal physiological responses. We studied, in vivo and in vitro, the chronological response to physiological increases of FA, analyzing the expression of selected genes important for glucose/lipid metabolism. An in vivo sequential model of fasting (known to increase circulating FA) and refeeding was used in male Wistar rats to study soleus (more oxidative) and gastrocnemius (more glycolytic) muscles, and a chronological study was made in C2C12 muscle cells under treatment of oleic/linoleic FA mixture, at physiological concentration. Body weight, muscle glycogen and blood parameters (glucose, insulin, free fatty acids -FFA-, triglycerides) were monitored. mRNA levels of muscle carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 (mCPT1), GLUT 4, insulin receptor (InsR), MyoD1, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR) γ coactivator 1α (PGC1α) and β (PGC1β), PPARα, PPARδ, pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4) and uncoupling proteins (UCPs) 2 and 3 were analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR. The main results were the quick induction of PGC1α, UCP3 and PDK4 in vivo (more marked in gastrocnemius) and of PGC1α, PGC1β, InsR, PDK4, UCP2 and UCP3 in vitro. It is concluded that FA are able to rapidly induce the expression in muscle cells of key genes involved in their catabolism and that the oleic/linoleic acid mixture has a positive role increasing the expression of master metabolic regulators and their downstream target genes, facilitating the transition from a more glycolytic to a more lipid-oxidative metabolism.

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