Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Oct 15, 2021; 12(10): 1750-1764
Published online Oct 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i10.1750
Metabolic and inflammatory functions of cannabinoid receptor type 1 are differentially modulated by adiponectin
Qiong Wei, Jong Han Lee, Chia-Shan Wu, Qun S Zang, Shaodong Guo, Hui-Chen Lu, Yuxiang Sun
Qiong Wei, Department of Endocrinology, Zhongda Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu Province, China
Qiong Wei, Jong Han Lee, Chia-Shan Wu, Yuxiang Sun, Department of Pediatrics, USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, United States
Jong Han Lee, Department of Marine Bioindustry, Hanseo University, Seosan 31962, South Korea
Chia-Shan Wu, Shaodong Guo, Yuxiang Sun, Department of Nutrition, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 7743, United States
Qun S Zang, Department of Surgery, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago Health Science Campus, Maywood, IL 60153, United States
Hui-Chen Lu, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Linda and Jack Gill Center of for Biomolecular Science, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States
Author contributions: Wei Q, Lee JH and Wu CS performed the experiments, analyzed the data and wrote the paper; Guo S and Zang QS consulted the study and proofread the paper; Lu HC provided the CB1 knockout mice, consulted in the study and proofread the paper; Sun Y designed the study and wrote the paper; all authors wrote, read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the NIH, No. DK118334 and No. AG064869; and the BrightFocus, No. A2019630S (to Sun Y).
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at Baylor College of Medicine.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animal experiments conformed to the internationally accepted principles for the care and use of laboratory animals (Protocol AN-2770, The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yuxiang Sun, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition, Texas A and M University, 214C Cater-Mattil, 2253 TAMU College Station, TX 7743, United States. yuxiang.sun@tamu.edu
Received: April 14, 2021
Peer-review started: April 14, 2021
First decision: May 12, 2021
Revised: June 7, 2021
Accepted: September 6, 2021
Article in press: September 6, 2021
Published online: October 15, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Antagonists of cannabinoid type 1 receptor (CB1) have been shown to promote body weight loss and improve insulin sensitivity. Cannabinoids have been shown to regulate adiponectin. However, it is unclear whether adiponectin is a key mediator of the functions of CB1. We compared metabolic and inflammatory phenotypes of CB1-null vs CB1/adiponectin double-knockout mice. Our findings reveal that CB1 functions through both adiponectin-dependent and adiponectin-independent mechanisms: CB1 regulates energy metabolism in an adiponectin-independent manner, and inflammation in an adiponectin-dependent manner.