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Research Article

Matrix Gla protein regulates adipogenesis and is serum marker of visceral adiposity

, , , , &
Pages 68-76 | Received 29 Sep 2019, Accepted 20 Jan 2020, Published online: 31 Jan 2020
 

ABSTRACT

Objective Matrix Gla protein (MGP) is a potent calcification inhibitor. Mgp-/- mice display increased proportion of brown adipose tissue. However, whether MGP is involved in fat metabolism remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the involvement. Methods Expression of adipocyte differentiation markers was examined by RT-qPCR. Adipocyte formation was assessed by Oil Red staining. Serum triglyceride, cholesterol, and desphosphorylated-uncarboxylated MGP (dp-ucMGP) were quantified by ELISA. Visceral fat was detected by bioelectrical impedance analysis. Results MGP is highly expressed in visceral fat. MGP expression is induced during preadipocyte differentiation. Knockout of MGP leads to retardation of 3T3-L1 differentiation. Intracellular triglyceride amount is impaired while glycerol release is increased in MGP-depleted cells. Serum dp-ucMGP level is significantly increased in individual with higher visceral fat index (VFI) and waist height ratio (WHtR), but not body mass index (BMI). Additionally, dp-ucMGP positively correlates to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level. Conclusions MGP is involved in fat metabolism and serum inactive MGP level is associated with visceral fat. Our study uncovers for the first time the link between MGP and fat metabolism, and sheds light on the potential of dp-ucMGP as a novel serum marker.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81670806, 81972133, 81300716), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. xzy012019094), Natural Science Basic Research Project of Shaanxi Province (No. 2017JM8015).