Fatty acids-stress attenuates gluconeogenesis induction and glucose production in primary hepatocytes

Background: Hepatic gluconeogenesis tightly controls blood glucose levels in healthy individuals, yet disorders of fatty acids (FAs) oxidation are characterized by hypoglycemia. We studied the ability of free-FAs to directly inhibit gluconeogenesis, as a novel mechanism that elucidates the hypoglycemic effect of FAs oxidation defects. Methods. Primary rat hepatocytes were pre-treated with FAs prior to gluconeogenic stimuli with glucagon or dexamethasone and cAMP. Results: Pre-treatment with 1mM FAs (mixture of 2:1 oleate:palmitate) for 1 hour prior to gluconeogenic induction, significantly decreases the induced expression of the gluconeogenic genes phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G6pase) as well as the induced glucose production by the cells. The inhibitory effect of FAs upon gluconeogenesis is abolished when pre-treatment is elongated to 18 hours, allowing clearance of FAs into triglycerides by the cells. Replacement of palmitate with the non-metabolic fatty acid 2-bromopalmitate inhibits esterification of FAs into triglycerides. Accordingly, the increased exposure to unesterified-FAs allows their inhibitory effect to be extended even when pre-treatment is elongated to 18 hours. Similar changes were caused by FAs to the induction of peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor- coactivator 1 (PGC1) expression, indicating this transcriptional coactivator as the mediating link of the effect. This inhibitory effect of FAs upon gluconeogenic induction is shown to involve reduced activation of cAMP response element-binding (CREB) transcription factor. Conclusions: The present results demonstrate that free-FAs directly inhibit the induced gluconeogenic response in hepatocytes. Hence, high levels of free-FAs may attenuate hepatic gluconeogenesis, and liver glucose output.