E-news: Hepatic sex differences in the development of insulin resistance in ZDF rats

Protection from the metabolic syndrome in premenopausal females suggests a protective effect from hormones such as oestrogen.

Male ZDF rats develop T2DM spontaneously; females only do so if fed a high fat diet.

Gustavsson et al investigated this sex dependent difference, finding 94 differentially expressed hepatic transcripts. Females fed a high fat diet had increased levels of fatty acid oxidation genes and reduced levels of de novo lipid synthesis.

Read more in the Journal of Molecular Endocrinology.