TY - JOUR T1 - Chronic intermittent hypoxia induces features of non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and modifies adipose tissue characteristics in lean mice JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - 4445 AU - Judith Aron-Wisnewsky AU - Emmanuelle Gras AU - Amandine Thomas AU - Diane Godin-Ribuot AU - Karine Clement AU - Jean-Louis Pepin Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/4445.abstract N2 - Introduction: In human obesity, chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) due to obstructive sleep apnoea induces NAFLD exacerbation. Whether this remains true in non-obese OSA is still debated. By contrast, CIH induced no adipose tissue (AT) histological modifications in morbidly obese. We aimed to evaluate the effect of a 14 days CIH on both liver, subcutaneous and epididymal AT in lean mice. Methods: 16 mice fed a chow-diet and were submitted to either normoxia or 8 hours of CIH.Methods: After 14 days of exposure, expression of extra-cellular matrix, inflammatory and lipogenesis genes with PCR and immunohistological analysis were performed on liver and the two AT depots.Results: In liver, CIH induced a significantly increased expression of gene involved in lipogenesis (ACC, SREBP1c, FAS), fibrosis (Coll1, Coll3, TGFβ), and inflammation (TNFα, IL1β) compared to mice on normoxia (at least two-fold ratio). However, this short CIH duration did not translate into histological lesions. Although mice submitted to CIH were significantly lighter than mice on normoxia, their epididymal AT was two-fold heavier in terms of percentage of total body weight. Furthermore, adipocyte size was increased in CIH along with increased leptin gene expression in epididymal AT (p=0.008). No difference was observed in inflammatory or extra-cellular matrix gene expression.Conclusion: In lean mice, a short duration of CIH (14 days) already induces the features of NAFLD at the gene expression levels that do not yet translate into histological lesions. Furthermore, CIH also seems to impact on corpulence and adipose tissue characteristics. ER -