(P01-015-24) Sex-Specific Regulation of Lipid Metabolism by β-Carotene in Healthy BALB/C Mice

Objectives: The objective of this study is to investigate the sex specific effect of BC supplementation on adiposity and metabolic gene expression.

Methods: This study utilized microarray gene expression profiles obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) to estimate the sex-specific molecular regulation of BC in the liver and adipose tissue. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using GEO2R with the criteria of a fold change > 0.5 and P < 0.05. The animal experiment involved 24 male and 24 female BALB/C mice at 5 weeks, randomly assigned to control and BC groups: m-NC, m-BC, f-NC, f-BC. All the mice had oral BC administration twice a week for 11 weeks of the experimental period, after which they were sacrificed.

Results: Twelve-weeks of BC consumption induced sex-dependent genetic alterations in both liver and visceral fat tissues. BC supplementation significantly reduced gonadal fat in males and showed tendency to decrease body adiposity. Additionally, the liver exhibited male-specific enhancements in eccentric cleavage of BC by upregulated β, β-carotene-9', 10'-dioxygenase 2 (BCDO2), particularly with increased β, β-carotene-15, 15’-monooxygenase (BCMO1) expression. Conversely, a positive relationship was observed between BCO2 expression and gonadal fat mass in males. This study also revealed regulatory patterns in gonadal fat, including changes in lipid metabolism (lipolysis, lipogenesis, and β-oxidation markers) and alterations in sex hormone receptor expressions in a sex-dependent manner.

Conclusions: The findings suggest intricate and sex-biased responses of BC in various physiological aspects, emphasizing the need for further exploration into the role of BC in sex-specific physiological and metabolic differences.

Funding Sources: This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT and was also supported by the BK21 FOUR (Fostering Outstanding Universities for Research) funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE, Korea) and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-5199990614253, Education Research Center for 4IR-Based Health Care).