Identifying adipose-specific amp-activated protein kinase isoforms via gene expressions of adult male postmortem cases

About 2.5 billion are overweight of which 890 million of people are obese. In Malaysia, a survey by The National Health Screening Initiative 2023 found that more than half, or 53.5% of Malaysians screened were overweight or obese (31.3% overweight and 22.2% obese). Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an enzyme that plays an important role as a cellular energy sensor and has been used for the treatment of metabolic diseases, including obesity. Activation of AMPK in hypothalamus can influence appetite, while its activation in liver and adipose tissue inhibits fatty acid synthesis. Studies have shown that different AMPK isomers are predominant in different tissues with 12 possible complexes. However, to date, there have been few studies on the determination of the predominant isomer in adipose tissue especially in humans. The main objective of this study therefore was to determine the different types of AMPK isoforms present in human subcutaneous and visceral (perihepatic and pericardiac) adipose tissue in both underweight/ lean and overweight/ obese adult male. About 500mg to lOOOmg adipose tissue were harvested from 96 adult male postmortem cases from Institut Perubatan Forensik Negara, Hospital Kuala Lumpur. RNA was extracted before proceeding with the qPCR analysis to measure the mRNA level of the seven AMPK subunits. There are different predominant isoforms expressed in adipose tissues from the different sites. Findings from this study showed that in subcutaneous adipose tissue, aip iy l AMPK complex was predominantly expressed in overweight/ obese subjects whilst aP2y3 AMPK complex was predominantly expressed in underweight/ lean individuals. Different finding was observed in visceral adipose tissue where in both sites, a2 isoform is predominantly expressed. In perihepatic adipose tissue, a2piyl is predominantly expressed in overweight/ obese while a2piy3 is predominantly expressed in underweight/ lean group. Meanwhile in pericardiac adipose tissue a2p2y3 was upregulated in overweight/ obese whilst in underweight/ lean group a2Py3 was predominantly expressed. In conclusion, this study has identified AMPK complexes that is predominantly expressed in both subcutaneous (a ip iy l) and visceral (perihepatic, a2plyl; pericardiac, a2P2y3) adipose tissue of overweight/ obese individuals to facilitate future studies in targeting obesity using AMPK as a therapeutic target. Future studies should explore the correlation between the different complexes present and its effects on adipose tissue.