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White Adipose Tissue Clocks and High Calorie Feeding

Pilot Study to Examine the Impact of Overfeeding on Peripheral Clock Gene Expression in Humans

Status
Completed
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02809482
Enrollment
10
Registered
2016-06-22
Start date
2016-07-31
Completion date
2017-09-30
Last updated
2019-07-01

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Healthy

Keywords

Volunteers

Brief summary

Peripheral tissues (e.g. liver, adipose, muscle) express self-sustained circadian clocks that coordinate daily metabolic rhythms. The timing of clock rhythms in peripheral tissues is highly sensitive to feeding-fasting signals across the sleep-wake transition. Nutritional insults such as high fat overfeeding (HF-OF) have been shown to attenuate clock gene expression in peripheral tissues resulting in a deleterious re-programming of the circadian metabolome. Studies in humans have only superficially investigated how the circadian clock machinery is impacted by nutritional signals. The overall goal of this pilot project is to take the first steps toward developing translational methods to investigate links between changes in energy flux and the circadian system in human tissues. Using an innovative ex vivo cell culture approach the investigators will examine the impact of 3-days of HF-OF compared to eucaloric (EU) feeding on the expression of core clock genes in human subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT). The Investigators hypothesize that compared to EU, the amplitude of clock gene expression in SAT measured over 24hrs will be attenuated following short-term HF-OF. This pilot project will serve as a launch point for designing future studies into the effects of diet and exercise on the circadian control of metabolism in adipose tissue depots as well as other tissues (e.g. muscle).

Interventions

OTHEREucaloric feeding

3 days of a diet designed to maintain energy balance

3 days of a diet designed to induce a 40% positive energy balance

Sponsors

University of Colorado, Denver
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
20 Years to 35 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* males and females aged 20-35 yr; * BMI 25-35 kg/m2 and weight stable (±2kg in past 2mo); * non-smoker; * sedentary to moderately active (≤3 days of exercise per week ≤30 min of exercise per session); * sleeping pattern of \>7 hours to 9.25 hrs of sleep/night. * subjects will be asked to identify themselves as regular consumers of 3 balanced meals per day by answering the question: Do you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner on ≥ 5 days per week?

Exclusion criteria

* Smoker (current or within the previous 3 months); * Use any medication that could affect lipid metabolism, insulin signaling, or sleep; * Pregnant women will not be enrolled in the study; * Have a job that involves shift work; * Dwelling below Denver altitude (1,600 m) a year prior to testing; * Travel across more than one time zone 3 wk before a study; * chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hyper or hypothyroidism, renal or liver disease, anemia, or cancer; * Regularly go to sleep after midnight; o Subjects will be excluded if they are identified as having night eating syndrome (at least 25% of food intake is consumed after the evening meal and/or at least two episodes of nocturnal eating per week); * Allergy to lidocaine or similar compound; * Have one or more of the following out-of-range values measured on a fasting blood sample: * glucose \> 110 mg/dl, * thyroid stimulating hormone \<0.5 or \>5.0 µU/ml. * Subjects who may be: * anemic (hemoglobin \< 14.5 g/dl men, \<12.3 g/dl women ), * have abnormal liver function tests (alanine amino transferase \> 47 U/l, aspartate aminotransferase, \> 47 U/l, alkaline phosphatase \<39 or \>117 U/l) or creatinine (\>1.1 mg/dl).

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Expression of clock genes in adipose tissue.Measured through study completion, an average of 4 weeks.Gene expression measured at two time points from abdominal fat.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Gene expression of key cellular fuel sensors thought to be controlled. and/or influenced by peripheral clocksMeasured through study completion, an average of 4 weeks.Gene expression measured at two time points from abdominal fat.
Expression of clock genes in blood monocytes.Measured through study completion, an average of 4 weeks.Gene expression measured at two time points from abdominal fat.

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026