Frontiers in Nutrition (Mar 2023)

High-fat intake reshapes the circadian transcriptome profile and metabolism in murine meibomian glands

  • Sen Zou,
  • Jiangman Liu,
  • Hongli Si,
  • Duliurui Huang,
  • Di Qi,
  • Xiaoting Pei,
  • Dingli Lu,
  • Shenzhen Huang,
  • Zhijie Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1146916
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

Read online

BackgroundNutritional and food components reshape the peripheral clock and metabolism. However, whether food challenges affect the circadian clock and metabolism of meibomian glands (MGs) has not been fully explored. This study was designed to analyze alterations in the rhythmic transcriptome and metabolism of MGs of murine fed a balanced diet or a high-fat diet (HFD).MethodsMale C57BL/6J mice were maintained on a 12/12 h light/dark cycle and fed ad libitum on normal chow (NC) or HFD for 4 weeks. MGs were collected from sacrificed animals at 3-h intervals throughout a 24-h circadian cycle. The circadian transcriptome of MGs was analyzed via bioinformatics approaches using high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). In addition, circadian oscillations of lipid components in MGs were analyzed.ResultsMeibomian glands displayed robust transcriptome rhythmicity. HFD feeding significantly altered the circadian transcriptome profile of MGs—including composition and phase—and spatiotemporally affected the enriched signaling pathways. In addition, HFD feeding significantly altered the normal rhythmic oscillations of lipid components in MGs.ConclusionOur data show that HFD significantly affects MGs’ rhythmicity, which reveals a high sensitivity of MGs’ clocks to lipid composition in food.

Keywords