Carboxylation of Pyruvate by Isolated Rat Adipose Tissue Mitochondria

Mitochondrial function/dysfunction in white adipose tissue

The role of mitochondria in white adipocytes has long been neglected due in part to their lower abundance in these cells. However, accumulating evidence suggests that mitochondria are vital for maintaining metabolic homeostasis in white adipocytes because of their involvement in adipogenesis, fatty acid synthesis and esterification, branched-chain amino acid catabolism and lipolysis. It is therefore not surprising that white adipose tissue function can be perturbed by altering mitochondrial components or oxidative capacity. Moreover, studies in humans and animals with significantly altered fat mass, such as in obesity or lipoatrophy, indicate that impaired mitochondrial function in adipocytes may be linked directly to the development of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and insulin resistance. However, recent studies that specifically targeted mitochondrial function in adipocytes indicated dissociation between impaired mitochondrial oxidative capacity and systemic insulin sensitivity.

Modulation of lipid metabolism by energy status of adipocytes: implications for insulin sensitivity

It is becoming evident that insulin resistance of white adipose tissue is a major factor underlying the cardiovascular risk of obesity. Impaired fat storage rather than altered glucose metabolism in adipocytes probably contributes to development of insulin resistance in muscle and other tissues, in particular via increased delivery of nonesterified fatty acids into circulation. Lipid metabolism of adipose tissue is affected by the energy status of fat cells. In vitro experiments indicated the dependence of both lipogenesis and lipolysis on ATP levels in adipocytes. Thus, respiratory uncoupling in adipocytes that results in stimulation of energy dissipation and depression of ATP synthesis may contribute to the control of lipid metabolism, adiposity, and insulin sensitivity. This notion is supported by the expression of UCPs in adipocytes, for example, UCP2, UCP5, as well as some protonophoric anion transporters, and by induction of UCP1 and UCP3 in white fat by pharmacological treatments that reduce adiposity. A negative correlation between expression of UCPs in adipocytes and accumulation of white fat was also found. Expression of UCP1 from the adipose-specific promoter in the aP2-Ucp1 transgenic mice mitigated obesity induced by genetic or dietary factors. The obesity resistance, accompanied by respiratory uncoupling in adipocytes and increased energy expenditure, resulted from ectopic expression of UCP1 in white, but not brown fat. Probably due to depression of the ATP/ADP ratio, both fatty acid synthesis and lipolytic action of norepinephrine in adipocytes of transgenic mice were relatively low. Expression of regulatory G-proteins, which are essential for both catecholamine and insulin signaling in adipocytes, was also altered by ectopic UCP1. These results support the role of protonophoric proteins in adipocytes in the control of adiposity and insulin sensitivity. Antidiabetic effects of thiazolidinediones, fibrates, beta(3)-adrenoreceptor agonists, dietary n-3 PUFAs, and leptin may be explained at least partially by their effects on the energy and hence also the lipid metabolism of fat cells.

Decreased fatty acid synthesis due to mitochondrial uncoupling in adipose tissue

Synthesis of fatty acid (FA) in adipose tissue requires cooperation of mitochondrial and cytoplasmic enzymes. Mitochondria are required for the production of ATP and they also support the formation of acetyl-CoA and NADPH in cytoplasm. Since cellular levels of all these metabolites depend on the efficiency of mitochondrial energy conversion, mitochondrial proton leak via uncoupling proteins (UCPs) could modulate FA synthesis. In 3T3-L1 adipocytes, 2,4-dinitrophenol depressed the synthesis of FA 4-fold while increasing FA oxidation 1. 5-fold and the production of lactate 14-fold. Inhibition of FA synthesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes was proportional to the decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential. FA synthesis from D-[U-(14)C] glucose was reduced up to fourfold by ectopic UCP1 in the white fat of transgenic aP2-Ucp1 mice, reflecting the magnitude of UCP1 expression in different fat depots and the reduction of adiposity. Transcript levels for lipogenic enzymes were lower in the white fat of the transgenic mice than in the control animals. Our results show that uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation depresses FA synthesis in white fat. Reduction of adiposity via mitochondrial uncoupling in white fat not only reflects increased energy expenditure, but also decreased in situ lipogenesis.

Transgenic UCP1 in white adipocytes modulates mitochondrial membrane potential

To test if mitochondrial uncoupling in white adipocytes is responsible for obesity resistance of the aP2-Ucp transgenic mice expressing ectopic uncoupling protein 1 (UCPI) in white fat, mitochondrial membrane potential (delta psi(m)) was estimated by flow cytometry in adipocytes isolated from gonadal fat. Ectopic UCP1 (approximately 0.8 mol UCP1/mol respiratory chain) decreased the delta psi(m) and rendered the potential sensitive to GDP and fatty acids. These ligands of UCP1 had no effect on delta psi(m) in white adipocytes from non-transgenic mice, suggesting that the function of endogenous UCP2 in adipocytes was not affected. The results support the hypothesis that mitochondrial uncoupling in white fat may prevent development of obesity.

The physiological role of pyruvate carboxylation in hamster brown adipose tissue

1. Pyruvate carboxylase is present in brown adipose tissue mitochondria. 2. In isolated mitochondria, pyruvate, bicarbonate and ATP, the substrates for pyruvate carboxylase, are able to replace added malate in supplying a condensing partner for acetyl-CoA formed from beta-oxidation of fatty acids. 3. In brown adipocytes, pyruvate and CO2 increase the rate of norepinephrine-stimulated respiration synergistically. 4. The norepinephrine-stimulated respiration in brown adipocytes is diminished when pyruvate transport into the mitochondria is inhibited. 5. Pyruvate carboxylation increases the intramitochondrial level of citric acid cycle intermediates, as shown by titrations of malonate inhibition of respiration. 6. Pyruvate carboxylation can continuously supply the mitochondria with citric acid cycle intermediates, as evidenced by its ability to maintain respiration when oxoglutarate conversion to glutamate is stimulated. 7. Pyruvate carboxylation is necessary for maximal oxygen consumption even when drainage of the citric acid cycle for amino acid synthesis is eliminated. 8. Pyruvate carboxylation explains observed effects of CO2 on respiration in brown adipocytes, and may also explain the increased glucose uptake by brown adipose tissue during thermogenesis in vivo.

Citrate formation by rat lung mitochondrial preparations

Rat lung mitochondrial preparations were incubated in the preasence of pyruvate and malate. The principal metabolic products measured were citrate and CO2. Citrate formation from pyruvate was found to be dependent on the presence of malate. Significant citrate was formed in the presence of isocitrate and the rate of citrate formation was increased by the addition of pyruvate. Small amounts of citrate were formed by lung mitochondrial preparations in the presence of 2-oxoglutarate and succinate only after the addition of pyruvate. The level of acetyl-CoA was significantly greater in the presence of pyruvate than in the presence of pyruvate plus malate. The addition of malate to lung mitoochondrial preparations increased 14CO2 production from [2-14C] pyruvate into malate and citrate. A low level of pyruvate-dependent H14CO3-incorporation into acid-stable products was observed, principally citrate and malate, but this rate did not exceed 5% of the rate of net citrate formation in the presence of malate and pyruvate. The capacity of rate lung mitochondria to form oxaloacetate from pyruvate alone in vitro is very limited, and would appear to cast doubt on a major role of pyruvate carboxylase in citrate formation. It is concluded that the rate of citrate formation from pyruvate is limited by the availability of intramitochondrial oxaloacetate and the rate of citrate efflux across the mitochondrial membrane.

Fatty acid synthesis by human adipose tissue

The effect of age and nutritional status on the synthesis of fatty acids from a variety of labeled substrates by human adipose tissue in vitro was investigated. The results of this study clearly demonstrate that, although human adipose tissue is able to oxidize glucose to CO2, its ability to incorporate glucose-carbon into long chain fatty acids is negligible. Although the utilization of acetate for the synthesis of fatty acids by adipose tissue is substantial in the presence of glucose and insulin, its physiologic significance in human under normal dietary conditions is questionable. That the capacity of human adipose tissue is limited is further supported by (1) a negligible incorporation of pyruvate-3-14C (up to 25 mM concentration in the incubation medium) into fatty acids, (2) a lack of stimulation in lipogenesis by human adipose tissue after refeeding a diet high in carbohydrate and very low in fat to a previously starved human, and (3) an extremely low activity of pyruvate carboxylase and ATP-citrate lyase in adipose tissues from humans of varying ages. The activities of other key lipogenic enzymes, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, and NADP-malate dehydrogenase, are also low. These enzymes can be stimulated in human adipose tissue after a fasting-refeeding regimen. The activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase is also very low in human adipose tissue,and it is suggested that a pathway of glyceroneogenesis may not play a significant role in human adipose tissue. In light of our results, together with previous reports, it is possible to conclude that the capacity of human adipose tissue to utilize a dietary carbohydrate for the synthesis of fatty acids is extremely low and that the liver plays a major role in the biosynthesis of endogenous fatty acids from dietary carbohydrate in the human.