Mest and Sfrp5 are biomarkers for healthy adipose tissue.

Obesity depends on a close interplay between genetic and environmental factors. However, it is unknown how these factors interact to cause changes in the obese condition during the progression of obesity from the neonatal to the aged individual. We have utilized Mest and Sfrp5 genes, two genes highly correlated with adipose tissue expansion in diet-induced obesity, to characterize the obese condition during development of 2 genetic models of obesity. A model for the early onset of obesity was presented by leptin-deficient mice (ob/ob), whereas late onset of obesity was induced with high-fat diet (HFD) consumption in C57BL/6J mice with inherent risk of obesity (DIO). We correlated obese and diabetic phenotypes with Mest and Sfrp5 gene expression profiles in subcutaneous fat during pre-weaning, pre-adulthood and adulthood. A rapid development of obesity began in ob/ob mice immediately after weaning at 21 days of age, whereas the obesity of DIO mice was not evident until after 2 months of age. Even after 5 months of HFD treatment, the adiposity index of DIO mice was lower than in ob/ob mice at 2 months of age. In both obesity models, the expression of Mest and Sfrp5 genes increased in parallel with fat mass expansion; however, gene expression proceeded to decrease when the adiposity reached a plateau. The reduction in the expression of genes of caveolae structure and glucose metabolism were also suppressed in the aging adipose tissue. The analysis of fat mass and adipocyte size suggests that reduction in Mest and Sfrp5 is more sensitive to the age of the fat than its morphology. The balance of factors controlling fat deposition can be evaluated in part by the differential expression profiles of Mest and Sfrp5 genes with functions linked to fat deposition as long as there is an active accumulation of fat mass.