Obese children and adolescents have an impaired metabolic and anthropometric profile
The anthropometric, body composition and biochemical variables of the studied individuals stratified by body mass index (BMI) percentile status are shown in Table 1. Age and gender of the participants were not significantly different among the control and obese group (Additional file 3 and 4). The median age was 11 years old, and 48% were girls. All mean values of skinfold thickness, waist circumference (WC), arm circumference (AC), waist-to-height ratio (WHR), arm muscle circumference, and neck circumference were significantly increased in participants with obesity in comparison with healthy weight children and adolescents (Table 1). Regarding body composition, the percentage of arm, leg, trunk, android, gynoid, and body fat were significantly elevated in obese patients compared with control subjects (Table 1). In obese children, fat distribution was similar between different body areas, and there were no significant differences in mean values of lean mass between groups.
The mean of fasting glucose and 2-hours glucose fell within the normal ranges, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (Table 2) [17]. However, insulin was significantly higher in children with obesity than in the standard weight group. Accordingly, the HOMA score was increased in obese children; this score overcomes the 3,4 cut-off indicating IR (Table 2) [18]. TG and VLDL levels were higher in obese children than those of lean subjects, whereas HDL-c levels were significantly reduced in obese subjects in contrast with the control group (Table 2). The levels of total cholesterol were similar among groups (Table 2).
TG/HDL and A/G ratios are frequently used as indicators of cardiometabolic risk, and here, those ratios were significantly elevated in the obese group in comparison with the lean patients. Based on this data, obese children and adolescents have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and T2D. Incretins gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) and GLP-1 did not show significant differences between the study groups (Table 2).
Triceps skinfold displayed a positive correlation with body composition parameters
Relationships between fat body distribution and anthropometric data are shown in Table 2. Triceps skinfold displayed a positive correlation with all body composition parameters; the stronger correlation was observed with total body fat percentage (r=0,6554, p=0,0071), while a weaker association with Android fat percentage (r=0,4974, p=0,0516) was found (Table 3). Furthermore, WHR ratio showed a positive association with arm (r=0,691, p=0,0038), leg (r=0,5245, p=0,0388), android (r=0,5528, p=0,0282), and total body fat percentages (r=0,5379, p=0,0334) (Table 3).
Trunk fat percentage presented a significant association with A/G ratio (r=0,558, p=0,027). Likewise, Android fat percentage also displayed a positive correlation with A/G ratio (r=0,558, p=0.006). Arm circumference parameter correlated negatively with LDL (r=-0,572, p=0,013) and no-HDL (r=-0,502, p=0,034), whereas arm muscle circumference exhibited a weak negative correlation with LDL (r=-0,486, p=0,041) (Additional file 2).
The correlation of different variables with the suprailiac skinfold indicated a positive association with Total Cholesterol (r=0,658, p=0,003), and no-HDL (r=0,724, p=0,001), and a weaker association with LDL (r=0,550, p=0,018) (Additional file 2). Also, there was a positive correlation between Abdominal skinfold and HOMA-IR (r=0,459, p=0,055).
PPARα and GLP-1R gene expression is reduced in leukocytes from obese subjects
To determine the expression of PPAR isotypes in the leukocytes, the expression of each isotype was analyzed by qPCR. PPAR-α expression showed a significant reduction (about 50%) in the leukocytes from obese patients in comparison with the control group (p=0,0484) (Figure 1a). PPAR-β showed no differential expression between the study groups (Figure 1b). In contrast, PPAR-γ expression was undetectable in leukocytes from all the samples. To corroborate this finding, we used adipose tissue cDNA as a positive control, since this isotype is mainly present in adipose cells. This sample presented a positive amplification and a single peak in the dissociation curve, indicating that the reaction was specific (data not shown). Likely, PPAR-γ transcripts were not expressed on leukocytes or were expressed at low levels but just in some cell lineages of these samples.
Besides, analysis from mRNA expression levels of incretin receptors was also evaluated in the studied individuals. GLP-1R expression was significantly reduced in the obese group compared with the healthy weight participants (p=0,1358) (Figure 1c), whereas no difference was observed in GIPR expression between the two groups (Figure 1d).
Obese children and adolescents showed a proinflammatory profile of adipokines and cytokines
To identify the inflammatory serum profile in obese children and adolescents, the levels of several adipokines and cytokines were measured by flow cytometry using a multiplex assay. Obese subjects showed a significant increase in the levels of IL-8 (p=0,0081), IL-6 (p=0,0005), TNF-α (p=0,0004), IFN-γ (p=0,0110), and MCP-1 levels (p=0,0452), compared with the normal weight group (Figure 2). Serum levels of IL-10 and IP-10 were detected but did not differ significantly between the groups.
The serum adiponectin concentration presented a significant reduction in the obese group (p=0,0452) compared with the control group (Figure 3). Conversely, adipsin displayed a significantly higher concentration (p=0,0397) in the obese group in comparison with the control group, which had a concentration of 7,688 ± 6,116 pg/mL (Figure 3). Resistin showed similar levels between the study groups, with concentrations of 13,102 ± 8,342 pg/mL and 16,792 ± 8,302 pg/mL for the obese and control participants, respectively (Figure 3). Finally, Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) did not present a representative concentration in any of the study groups, indicating that it is not secreted in serum at detectable levels under the evaluated conditions.
PPARα and PPARβ/δ correlate negatively with proinflammatory markers
Analysis of the relationships between PPAR-α, PPAR-β, and GLP-1R expression, and the levels of cytokines, chemokines, and anthropometric parameters of the obese subjects, showed that PPAR-α transcript levels had a significant negative correlation with TNF-α levels (r = -0,583, p=0,03883) (Table 4), as well as with abdominal skinfold (r = -0,712, p=0,0016). Besides, PPAR-β showed a significant negative correlation with IL-8 levels (r = -0,667, p=0,0085) and with arm fat percentage (r = -0,651, p= 0,0132) (Table 4 and 5).
In contrast, GLP-1R expression did not correlate with any inflammatory parameters (Table 4). However, GLP-1R showed a negative correlation with Abdominal skinfold (r= -0,678, p=0,009) (Table 5).