Figure 6. Reduction of adipokine SPARC improves healthspan during aging.
(A) Schematic of experiment with Sparcfl/fl (Con) and Sparcfl/fl;Adipoq-Cre+ (Adip-KO) mice with age over 20 months. (B) ELISA assay of circulating SPARC amounts from young (2-month-old) and old (20-month-old) control and Adip-KO mice by ELISA assay (n=12, 12, 10, 10) (C) Weight change of control and Adip-KO mice with age over 20 month (n=13, 15). (D) Body composition of 20-month-old control and Adip-KO mice measured by MRI (n=13, 15). (E) GTT and (F) ITT of 20-month-old control and Adip-KO mice (n=13, 15). (G, H) Healthspan test results of 21-month-old control and Adip-KO mice (n=14, 14). Grip strength test (G) and rotarod test (H) are shown. (I) Glycerol measurement with supernatants of adipose explants (SAT and VAT) derived from 22-month-old control and Adip-KO mice fed or fasted for 24h and stimulated with NE and isoproterenol ex vivo (n=6, 6). (J) Western-blot analysis of p-HSL in VAT explants from 22-month-old control and Adip-KO mice after 24 hour of fasting. (n=3, 6). (K) Q-PCR analysis for Calcrl, Pde3e and Ppara genes in VAT of 22-month-old control and Adip-KO mice (n=6, 5). All ex vivo and in vitro experiments were repeated independently at least twice. Error bars represent the mean ± S.E.M. Two-tailed unpaired and t-tests were performed for statistical analysis. * P < 0.05; ** P < 0.01; *** P < 0.001. Please also see Figure S6.