Secretin and lipid metabolism

Abstract

Metabolic homeostasis is essential for human well-being, lack of which is the root cause for several metabolic disorders including type-2 diabetes. Secretin (SCT), a classical gastrointestinal hormone, has pleiotropic physiological functions in the body including its role in the regulation of water homeostasis. Recently, SCT has been found to induce anorexia through activation of POMC neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. In the current study, role of SCT in lipid homeostasis was explored under energy deficient and energy excess conditions. Under starvation, SCT stimulated lipolysis through hormone sensitive lipase dependent pathway. Under high fat diet feeding, secretin receptor knockout mice have impaired intestinal lipid absorption and are resistant to diet induced obesity. We hypothesize a novel short positive feedback pathway involving SCT and CD36 to maximize intestinal lipid absorption and further propose studies on combinatorial effect of enteroendocrine hormones for developing therapeutic strategies targeting metabolic disorders.