It has recently been shown that the fat-derived hormone adiponectin has the ability to
decrease hyperglycemia and to reverse insulin resistance. However, bacterially produced
full-length adiponectin is functionally inactive. Here, we show that endogenous adiponectin
secreted by adipocytes is post-translationally modified into eight different isoforms, as shown
by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Carbohydrate detection revealed that six of the
adiponectin isoforms are glycosylated. The glycosylation sites were mapped to several …