Figure 1.

Impact of maternal obesity in mice on adipose tissue (AT) adiponectin expression and ubiquitination, insulin signaling, inflammation, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. A, Gonadal AT was collected at embryonic day (E)18 in pregnant obese (OB) and control (C) mice, and total adiponectin protein expression measured. B, Adiponectin ubiquitination was determined in gonadal AT by immunoprecipitation (IP) of ubiquitin followed by immunoblotting of adiponectin and ubiquitin in OB pregnant mice. C, OB dams exhibited AT insulin resistance as indicated by increased inhibitory serine phosphorylation of insulin-receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1; S307) and decreased protein kinase B (Akt; T308) phosphorylation. Obesity was associated with increased AT inflammation and ER stress. AT inflammation was evidenced by decreased IκBα (inhibitor of nuclear factor–κB) expression and increased phosphorylation of JNK. Activation of ER stress pathways was indicated by phosphorylation of IRE1α and PERK, and their downstream target EIF2α, and increased expression of spliced XBP1 (XBP1s) and BiP. Asterisks adjacent to blots indicate significant differences between C and OB. Mean + SEM, unpaired t test. Figures are representative of n = 7 C, n = 10 OB. *P less than .05, **P less than .01.