Objective-Chronic systemic inflammation accompanies obesity and predicts development of cardiovascular disease.Dietary cholesterol has been shown to increase inflammation and atherosclerosis in LDL receptor-deficient (LDLR Ϫ/Ϫ ) mice. This study was undertaken to determine whether dietary cholesterol and obesity have additive effects on inflammation and atherosclerosis. Methods and Results-LDLRϪ/Ϫ mice were fed chow, high-fat, high-carbohydrate (diabetogenic) diets without (DD) or with added cholesterol (DDC) for 24 weeks. Effects on adipose tissue, inflammatory markers, and atherosclerosis were studied. Despite similar weight gain between DD and DDC groups, addition of dietary cholesterol increased insulin resistance relative to DD. Adipocyte hypertrophy, macrophage accumulation, and local inflammation were observed in intraabdominal adipose tissue in DD and DDC, but were significantly higher in the DDC group. Circulating levels of the inflammatory protein serum amyloid A (SAA) were 4.4-fold higher in DD animals and 15-fold higher in DDC animals than controls, suggesting chronic systemic inflammation. Hepatic SAA mRNA levels were similarly elevated. Atherosclerosis was increased in the DD-fed animals and further increased in the DDC group. Conclusions-Obesity-induced

The majority of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have “simple steatosis,” which is defined by hepatic steatosis in the absence of substantial inflammation or fibrosis and is considered to be benign. However, 10%–30% of patients with NAFLD progress to fibrosing nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is characterized by varying degrees of hepatic inflammation and fibrosis, in addition to hepatic steatosis, and can lead to cirrhosis. The cause(s) of progression to fibrosing steatohepatitis are unclear. We aimed to test the relative contributions of dietary fat and dietary cholesterol and their interaction on the development of NASH. We assigned C57BL/6J mice to four diets for 30 weeks: control (4% fat and 0% cholesterol); high cholesterol (HC; 4% fat and 1% cholesterol); high fat (HF; 15% fat and 0% cholesterol); and high fat, high cholesterol (HFHC; 15% fat and 1% cholesterol). The HF and HC diets led to increased hepatic fat deposition with little inflammation and no fibrosis (i.e., simple hepatic steatosis). However, the HFHC diet led to significantly more profound hepatic steatosis, substantial inflammation, and perisinusoidal fibrosis (i.e., steatohepatitis), associated with adipose tissue inflammation and a reduction in plasma adiponectin levels. In addition, the HFHC diet led to other features of human NASH, including hypercholesterolemia and obesity. Hepatic and metabolic effects induced by dietary fat and cholesterol together were more than twice as great as the sum of the separate effects of each dietary component alone, demonstrating significant positive interaction. Conclusion Dietary fat and dietary cholesterol interact synergistically to induce the metabolic and hepatic features of NASH, whereas neither factor alone is sufficient to cause NASH in mice.

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SummaryAbnormal levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammatory cytokines have been observed in the skeletal muscle during muscle wasting including sarcopenia. However, the mechanisms that signal ROS production and prolonged maintenance of ROS levels during muscle wasting are not fully understood. Here, we show that myostatin (Mstn) is a pro‐oxidant and signals the generation of ROS in muscle cells. Myostatin, a transforming growth factor‐β (TGF‐β) family member, has been shown to play an important role in skeletal muscle wasting by increasing protein degradation. Our results here show that Mstn induces oxidative stress by producing ROS in skeletal muscle cells through tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) signaling via NF‐κB and NADPH oxidase. Aged Mstn null (Mstn−/−) muscles, which display reduced sarcopenia, also show an increased basal antioxidant enzyme (AOE) levels and lower NF‐κB levels indicating efficient scavenging of excess ROS. Additionally, our results indicate that both TNF‐α and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) are potent inducers of Mstn and require NF‐κB signaling for Mstn induction. These results demonstrate that Mstn and TNF‐α are components of a feed forward loop in which Mstn triggers the generation of second messenger ROS, mediated by TNF‐α and NADPH oxidase, and the elevated TNF‐α in turn stimulates Mstn expression. Higher levels of Mstn in turn induce muscle wasting by activating proteasomal‐mediated catabolism of intracellular proteins. Thus, we propose that inhibition of ROS induced by Mstn could lead to reduced muscle wasting during sarcopenia.