Objective:
Diet-induced obesity promotes type 2 diabetes (T2D). Drugs that inhibit the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) have been demonstrated in clinical trials to decrease the onset of T2D. Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) negatively regulates the RAS by catabolizing angiotensin II (AngII). Preliminary data indicate that ACE2 deficient mice display impairments in glucose homeostasis at 8 weeks of age. We tested the hypothesis that ACE2 deficiency promotes the development of glucose intolerance and β-cell dysfunction in mice with diet-induced obesity.
Methods and Results:
Male
Ace2
+/y
or
-/y
mice were fed a low fat (LF, 10% kcal as fat) or high fat (HF, 60% kcal as fat) diet for 5 or 17 weeks. After 5 weeks, plasma insulin concentrations (0, 30 min) following a glucose challenge were significantly greater in HF
versus
(
vs)
LF-fed mice. However, glucose-stimulated increases in plasma insulin concentrations were decreased in HF-fed ACE2 deficient mice compared to controls (2.96 ± 0.18
vs
4.44 ± 0.40 ng/ul, respectively; P<0.01). Surprisingly, isolated pancreatic islets from HF-fed mice of either genotype released similar concentrations of insulin in response to glucose. However, mRNA abundance of insulin was significantly reduced in islets from HF-fed
Ace2
-/y
compared to
+/y
mice (1.76 ± 0.17
vs
2.54 ± 0.18 insulin/18S ratio; P<0.05). After 17 weeks, the plasma insulin response to glucose was further reduced in the HF-fed ACE2 deficient mice compared to controls (8.07 ± 0.98
vs
13.90 ± 1.10 ng/ul; P<0.01). Further, LF-fed ACE2 deficient mice also displayed reductions in plasma glucose-stimulated insulin concentrations (1.92 ± 0.98
vs
3.09 ± 0.98 ng/ul; P<0.01). Islets from HF-fed wild type mice displayed reduced ACE2 gene expression compared to LF (0.069 ± 0.009
vs
0.169 ± 0.01, ACE2/18S ratio; P<0.001) and AngII totally suppressed islet glucose-stimulated insulin secretion compared to vehicle (-0.16 ± 0.18
vs
0.9 ± 0.26, fold change over basal; P<0.05).
Conclusions:
These results demonstrate that ACE2 deficiency promotes the development of T2D by regulating islet insulin content. Moreover, diet-induced obesity reduces islet ACE2 gene expression with augmented AngII-induced impairment of insulin secretion.
The possible mechanisms by which phanoside stimulates insulin secretion from rat islets