Adipose tissue resistin expression is severely suppressed in obesity and stimulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonists

Elevated levels of the hormone resistin, which is secreted by fat cells, ar e proposed to cause insulin resistance and to serve as a link between obesi ty and type 2 diabetes, In this report we show that resistin expression is significantly decreased in the white adipose tissue of several different mo dels of obesity including the ob/ob, db/db, tub/tub, and KKA(Y) mice compar ed with their lean counterparts. Furthermore, in response to several differ ent classes of antidiabetic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamm a agonists, adipose tissue resistin expression is increased in both ob/ob m ice and Zucker diabetic fatty rats. These data demonstrate that experimenta l obesity in rodents is associated with severely defective resistin express ion, and decreases in resistin expression are not required for the antidiab etic actions of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonists.