Background: It is not known whether acute tissue injury is associated with endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress.

Objective: Our objective was to determine whether open, sc fat biopsies cause ER stress.

Approach: Five healthy subjects underwent three open sc fat biopsies. The first biopsy, taken from the lateral aspect of a thigh, was followed 4 h later by a second biopsy from the same incision site and a third biopsy from the contralateral leg. Expression markers of ER stress, inflammation, hypoxia, and adipokines were measured in these fat biopsies. In addition, we tested for signs of systemic ER stress and inflammation in plasma and in circulating monocytes.

Results: mRNA/18s ratios of IL-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, CD-14, hypoxia-induced factor 1-, the spliced form of Xbox protein-1, glucose-regulated protein 78, CCAAT enhance binding protein homologous protein, and activating factor-4 were all severalfold higher, whereas mRNA/18s ratios of adiponectin and leptin were lower in fat biopsies taken from the same site 4 h after the first biopsy but were unchanged in the second biopsy that was taken from the contralateral site. The biopsies were not associated with changes in plasma and monocyte IL-6 concentrations or in monocyte ER stress markers. Also, whole-body insulin-stimulated glucose uptake was the same in 15 subjects who had biopsies compared with 15 different subjects who did not.

Conclusion: Open, sc fat biopsies produced inflammation, hypoxia, ER stress, and decreased expression of adiponectin and leptin. These changes remained confined to the biopsy site for at least 4 h.