Biomaterial Database

Ketogenic diet-fed rats have increased fat mass and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity. 2008

Letícia C Ribeiro, and Ana L Chittó, and Alexandre P Müller, and Juliana K Rocha, and Mariane Castro da Silva, and André Quincozes-Santos, and Patrícia Nardin, and Liane N Rotta, and Denize R Ziegler, and Carlos-Alberto Gonçalves, and Roselis S M Da Silva, and Marcos L S Perry, and Carmem Gottfried

Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioquímica, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, RS, Brazil.

The ketogenic diet (KD), characterized by high fat and low carbohydrate and protein contents, has been proposed to be beneficial in children with epilepsy disorders not helped by conventional anti-epileptic drug treatment. Weight loss and inadequate growth is an important drawback of this diet and metabolic causes are not well characterized. The aim of this study was to examine body weight variation during KD feeding for 6 wk of Wistar rats; fat mass and adipocyte cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) activity were also observed. PEPCK activity was determined based on the [H(14)CO(3) (-)]-oxaloacetate exchange reaction. KD-fed rats gained weight at a less rapid rate than normal-fed rats, but with a significant increment in fat mass. The fat mass/body weight ratio already differed between ketogenic and control rats after the first week of treatment, and was 2.4 x higher in ketogenic rats. The visceral lipogenesis was supported by an increment in adipocyte PEPCK, aiming to provide glycerol 3-phosphate to triacylglycerol synthesis and this fat accumulation was accompanied by glucose intolerance. These data contribute to our understanding of the metabolic effects of the KD in adipose tissue and liver and suggest some potential risks of this diet, particularly visceral fat accumulation.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002784	Cholesterol	The principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in animal fats and oils.	Epicholesterol
D004827	Epilepsy	A disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of paroxysmal brain dysfunction due to a sudden, disorderly, and excessive neuronal discharge. Epilepsy classification systems are generally based upon: (1) clinical features of the seizure episodes (e.g., motor seizure), (2) etiology (e.g., post-traumatic), (3) anatomic site of seizure origin (e.g., frontal lobe seizure), (4) tendency to spread to other structures in the brain, and (5) temporal patterns (e.g., nocturnal epilepsy). (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p313)	Aura,Awakening Epilepsy,Seizure Disorder,Epilepsy, Cryptogenic,Auras,Cryptogenic Epilepsies,Cryptogenic Epilepsy,Epilepsies,Epilepsies, Cryptogenic,Epilepsy, Awakening,Seizure Disorders
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000273	Adipose Tissue	Specialized connective tissue composed of fat cells (ADIPOCYTES). It is the site of stored FATS, usually in the form of TRIGLYCERIDES. In mammals, there are two types of adipose tissue, the WHITE FAT and the BROWN FAT. Their relative distributions vary in different species with most adipose tissue being white.	Fatty Tissue,Body Fat,Fat Pad,Fat Pads,Pad, Fat,Pads, Fat,Tissue, Adipose,Tissue, Fatty
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D014280	Triglycerides	An ester formed from GLYCEROL and three fatty acid groups.	Triacylglycerol,Triacylglycerols,Triglyceride
D015431	Weight Loss	Decrease in existing BODY WEIGHT.	Weight Reduction,Loss, Weight,Losses, Weight,Reduction, Weight,Reductions, Weight,Weight Losses,Weight Reductions
D017208	Rats, Wistar	A strain of albino rat developed at the Wistar Institute that has spread widely at other institutions. This has markedly diluted the original strain.	Wistar Rat,Rat, Wistar,Wistar Rats