Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is characterized by a constellation of conditions that increase the risk for heart disease and other health problems. Although multiple organs are affected by this syndrome, research that focuses on the organs that are not directly involved in metabolism is lacking. Because MetS increases the risk for various lung diseases, we explored the effects of MetS on the lung in this study. We observed that the chronic consumption of a high sucrose diet for 24 weeks induced

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... in a rat model. Concomitant expression changes in 1,026 coding genes and two microRNAs were observed in the analyzed lung tissues. A network analysis showed degradation changes in the melatonin pathway, which plays a protective role in the lung; impairments of several in-flammatory pathways (i.e., interferon-γ and nuclear factor kappa B) were also revealed. Moreover, multiple olfactory genes were unexpectedly deregulated. Overall, the lungs of MetS mice exhibited an inflammatory phenotype with molecular changes that affected several signaling pathways that were related to melatonin metabolism, olfactory receptors and cytokine production. Additional research will be necessary to dissect a possible mechanism for the effects of this syndrome on the lung.