Ciliary ARL13B prevents obesity in mice.

Cilia are near ubiquitous small, cellular appendages critical for cell-to-cell communication. As such, they are involved in diverse developmental and homeostatic processes, including energy homeostasis. ARL13B is a regulatory GTPase highly enriched in cilia. Mice expressing an engineered ARL13B variant, ARL13BV358A which retains normal biochemical activity, display no detectable ciliary ARL13B. Surprisingly, these mice become obese. Here, we measured body weight, food intake, and blood glucose levels to reveal these mice display hyperphagia and metabolic defects. We showed that ARL13B normally localizes to cilia of neurons in specific brain regions and pancreatic cells but is excluded from these cilia in the Arl13bV358A/V358A model. In addition to its GTPase function, ARL13B acts as a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for ARL3. To test whether ARL13B's GEF activity is required to regulate body weight, we analyzed the body weight of mice expressing ARL13BR79Q, a variant that lacks ARL13B GEF activity for ARL3. We found no difference in body weight. Taken together, our results show that ARL13B functions within cilia to control body weight and that this function does not depend on its role as a GEF for ARL3. Controlling the subcellular localization of ARL13B in the engineered mouse model, ARL13BV358A, enables us to define the cilia-specific role of ARL13B in regulating energy homeostasis.

Maternal resistin predisposes offspring to hypothalamic inflammation and body weight gain.

Resistin promotes hypothalamic neuroinflammation and insulin resistance through Toll like receptor 4 (TLR4), this hormone is thought to be a link between obesity and insulin-resistance. Indeed, resistin plasma levels are higher in obese and insulin resistant subjects. However, the impact of maternal resistin on the predisposition of offspring to hypothalamic neuroinflammation is unknown. Here, female mice were treated with resistin during gestation/lactation periods, then hypothalamic neuroinflammation was investigated in male offspring at p28 and p90. At p28, resistin increased the expression of inflammation markers (IL6, TNFα and NFκB) and TLR4 in the hypothalamus and decreased both hypothalamic insulin and leptin receptors' expression. The hypothalamic up-regulation IL6, TNFα and TLR4 was sustained until p90 promoting most likely hypothalamic inflammation. Maternal resistin also increased IL6 and TNFα in the adipose tissue of offspring at p90 associated with a higher body weight gain. In contrast, liver and muscle were not affected. These findings reveal that the augmentation of maternal resistin during gestation and lactation promotes hypothalamic and adipose tissue inflammation of offspring as evidenced by sustained increase of inflammation markers from weaning to adulthood. Thus, maternal resistin programs offspring hypothalamic and adipose tissue inflammation predisposing then offspring to body weight gain.