Diabetes - Experimental

Introduction and Aims: Obesity is one of major health problem, which is related to the metabolic syndrome. The metabolic syndrome is characterized by insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension. These metabolic changes contribute to the development of obesity-induced kidney injury, which is characterized glomerular hypertrophy, thickening of the glomerular basement membrane, mesangial matrix expansion, and increased renal inflammation. AMP-activated kinase (AMPK) is an ubiquitous enzyme that participates in the cellular metabolic response to metabolic stress. AMPK activity is elevated by conditions that elevated the cellular AMP/ATP ratio such as depletion of glucose, or treatment of pharmacologic activator such as metformin. However, in the obesity, this enzymatic activity is reduced in various organs including kidney. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of AMPK activator, metformin, on renal histology and metabolic parameters in the high-fat diet induced obese mice.