Adiponectin Deficit During the Precarious Glucose Economy of Early Lactation in Dairy Cows

Abstract

In rodents and primates, insulin resistance develops during pregnancy and fades after parturition. In contrast, dairy cows and other ruminants maintain insulin resistance in early lactation (EL). This adaptation favors mammary glucose uptake, an insulin-independent process, at a time when the glucose supply is scarce. Reduction in circulating levels of the insulin-sensitizing hormone adiponectin promotes insulin resistance in other species, but whether it contributes to insulin resistance in EL dairy cows is unknown. To address this question, plasma adiponectin was measured in high-yielding dairy cows during the transition from late pregnancy (LP) to EL. Plasma adiponectin varied in quadratic fashion with the highest levels in LP, a maximal reduction of 45% on the day after parturition and a progressive return to LP values over the next 8 wk. Adiponectin circulated nearly exclusively in high molecular weight complexes in LP, and this distribution remained unaffected in EL. The reduction of plasma adiponectin in EL occurred without changes in adiponectin mRNA in adipose tissue but was associated with repression of the expression of proteins associated with the endoplasmic reticulum and involved in assembly of adiponectin oligomers. Finally, EL increased the expression of the adiponectin receptor 1 in muscle and adiponectin receptor 2 in liver but had no effect on the expression of these receptors in adipose tissue and in the mammary gland. These data suggest that reduced plasma adiponectin belongs to the subset of hormonal adaptations in EL dairy cows facilitating mammary glucose uptake via promotion of insulin resistance.

Short communication: Circulating and milk adiponectin change differently during energy deficiency at different stages of lactation in dairy cows

“…to parturition and subsequently gradually increased concentrations rebounding over the next 4 wk of lactation. Similar characteristic patterns of peripartal changes of circulating adiponectin were recently characterized in dairy cows using semiquantitative Western immunoblotting (Giesy et al, 2012;Mielenz et al, 2013) and the ELISA used herein (Mielenz et al, 2013). Ruminants largely depend on gluconeogenesis for their glucose requirements; therefore, efficient gluconeogenesis in dairy cows is the major pathway for maintaining an adequate glucose supply for the mammary gland (Reynolds et al, 1988).…”

“…Studies about the concentration of adiponectin in bovine body fluids have been impeded by the lack of inexpensive, straightforward, and reliable assays for bovine adiponectin. Using semiquantitative Western immunoblotting the circulating adiponectin concentrations in dairy cows were recently characterized and were shown to be lowest during the periparturient period (Giesy et al, 2012;Mielenz et al, 2013). Using an ELISA system we recently developed specifically for bovine adiponectin, this time course was confirmed (Mielenz et al, 2013) and supports that adiponectin participates in coordinating the metabolic changes during the period of NEB in early lactation.…”

The effect of nutrition and metabolic status on the development of follicles, oocytes and embryos in ruminants

“…In the plasma from humans, mice and cattle, adiponectin circulates in a variety of high molecular weight (HMW) dimeric and trimeric forms. In dairy cows during late pregnancy, adiponectin circulated almost exclusively as HMW complexes, and this pattern was unaffected by early lactation (Giesy et al, 2012). Decreasing plasma concentrations of adiponectin with advancing lactation are in good agreement with decreased insulin sensitivity that also occurs with advancing lactation.…”

“…Adiponectin is involved in lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and seems to have an important role in the pathophysiology of obesity and type 2 diabetes (for review, Kadowaki and Yamauchi (2005). In healthy humans and cattle, the blood concentrations of adiponectin are of the order of 5 to 30 mg/l, which represents 0.01% of the total plasma proteins (for review, Kadowaki and Yamauchi (2005); Giesy et al (2012). In humans and rodents, low concentrations of plasma adiponectin are predictive of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.…”

Increased plasma leptin attenuates adaptive metabolism in early lactating dairy cows

“…Integrity of RNA was determined using the RNA Nano Lab chip kit and Bioanalyzer (Agilent). Reverse transcription and SYBR Green real-time PCR assays were performed exactly as described previously (Giesy et al 2012). Primers are listed in Supplementary Table 1, see section on supplementary data given at the end of this article.…”