University of Connecticut OpenCommons@UConn Doctoral Dissertations University of Connecticut Graduate School 5-10-2018 Dietary Sphingomyelin for the Prevention of Diet- induced Metabolic Dysfunction in Mice Gregory Harrison Norris University of Connecticut - Storrs,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Norris, Gregory Harrison, "Dietary Sphingomyelin for the Prevention of Diet-induced Metabolic Dysfunction in Mice" (2018). Doctoral Dissertations. 1801. https://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/1801 Dietary Sphingomyelin for the Prevention of Diet-induced Metabolic Dysfunction in Mice Gregory H. Norris University of Connecticut, 2018 Metabolic dysfunction directly links of obesity and metabolic disorders. Although poor diet and lack of exercise are known factors for the development of metabolic disorders, there is a clear need to identify dietary components that may be effective for preventing metabolic dysfunction. Therefore, this dissertation aimed to define the effects of dietary sphingomyelin (SM) on diet-induced metabolic dysfunction. In Aim 1, we explored the short-term effects of dietary milk and egg SM on lipid homeostasis in C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat diet. Milk SM reduced both hepatic lipid accumulation and serum cholesterol, which correlates well with the existing literature. Conversely, egg SM increased both hepatic and serum lipids. Having demonstrated differences between two sources of SM, the study progressed to Aim 2, where we investigated the effects of both egg and milk SM on preventing metabolic dysfunction in C57BL/6J mice on an obesogenic diet. Egg SM reduced hypercholesterolemia and fasting hyperglycemia. Both SM treatments reduced hepatic steatosis and adipose inflammation, however, egg SM was more effective than milk SM.