Metabolism of Pyruvate and L-Lactate by Rat Adipose Tissue

An AMPK-dependent, non-canonical p53 pathway plays a key role in adipocyte metabolic reprogramming

It has been known adipocytes increase p53 expression and activity in obesity, however, only canonical p53 functions (i.e. senescence and apoptosis) are attributed to inflammation-associated metabolic phenotypes. Whether or not p53 is directly involved in mature adipocyte metabolic regulation remains unclear. Here we show p53 protein expression can be up-regulated in adipocytes by nutrient starvation without activating cell senescence, apoptosis, or a death-related p53 canonical pathway. Inducing the loss of p53 in mature adipocytes significantly reprograms energy metabolism and this effect is primarily mediated through a AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) pathway and a novel downstream transcriptional target, lysosomal acid lipase (LAL). The pathophysiological relevance is further demonstrated in a conditional and adipocyte-specific p53 knockout mouse model. Overall, these data support a non-canonical p53 function in the regulation of adipocyte energy homeostasis and indicate that the dysregulation of this pathway may be involved in developing metabolic dysfunction in obesity.

Effect of sex on glucose handling by adipocytes isolated from rat subcutaneous, mesenteric and perigonadal adipose tissue

Background

Adult rat epididymal adipocytes are able to convert large amounts of glucose to lactate and glycerol. However, fatty acid efflux is much lower than that expected from glycerol levels if they were the product of lipolysis. Use of glucose for lipogenesis is limited, in contrast with the active glycolysis-derived lactate (and other 3-carbon substrates). In this study, we analyzed whether white adipose tissue (WAT) site and sex affect these processes.

Methods

Mature adipocytes from perigonadal, mesenteric and subcutaneous WAT of female and male rats were isolated, and incubated with 7 or 14 mM glucose during 1 or 2 days. Glucose consumption, metabolite efflux and gene expression of glycolytic and lipogenesis-related genes were measured.

Results

The effects of medium initial glucose concentration were minimal on most parameters studied. Sex-induced differences that were more extensive; however, the most marked, distinct, effects between WAT sites, were dependent on the time of incubation. In general, the production of lactate was maintained during the incubation, but glycerol release rates increased with time, shifting from a largely glycolytic origin to its triacylglycerol (TAG) lipolytic release. Glycerol incorporation was concurrent with increased TAG turnover: lipolytic glycerol was selectively secreted, while most fatty acids were recycled again into TAG. Fatty acid efflux increased with incubation, but was, nevertheless, minimal compared with that of glycerol. Production of lactate and glycerol from glucose were maximal in mesenteric WAT.

Discussion

Female rats showed a higher adipocyte metabolic activity than males. In mesenteric WAT, gene expression (and substrate efflux) data suggested that adipocyte oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA was higher in females than in males, with enhanced return of oxaloacetate to the cytoplasm for its final conversion to lactate. WAT site differences showed marked tissue specialization-related differences. Use of glucose for lipogenesis was seriously hampered over time, when TAG turnover-related lipolysis was activated. We postulate that these mechanisms may help decrease glycaemia and fat storage, producing, instead, a higher availability of less-regulated 3-carbon substrates, used for energy elsewhere.

Interaction of lipogenic substrates in porcine adipose tissue in vitro

1. Porcine adipose tissue was incubated with radiolabeled glucose, acetate or lactate. Saturation curves indicated that lactate greater than glucose greater than acetate in providing two-carbon units for fatty-acid synthesis. 2. Competition between individual substrates indicated that lactate was the best lipogenic substrate. 3. Incubation of all three substrates at concentrations observable in serum indicated that at 5.56 mM, glucose was the preferred lipogenic substrate in the presence of 0.1 mM acetate and 1.0 mM lactate. 4. At elevated concentrations (18.52 mM glucose, 1.0 mM acetate and 10.0 mM lactate), acetate and lactate were preferred to glucose as lipogenic substrates.

Effect of a mixed meal on hepatic lactate and gluconeogenic precursor metabolism in dogs

The present experiments were undertaken to assess lactate and gluconeogenic precursor metabolism in the 30 h following consumption of a mixed meal by the overnight-fasted, conscious dog. The arterial glucose level rose by a maximum of 13 mg/dl 4 h after the meal and had returned to control levels by 12 h. Hepatic glucose production was suppressed for 12 h after feeding, but net hepatic glucose uptake did not occur. The arterial lactate level rose from 0.55 +/- 0.10 to 1.28 +/- 0.14 mM within 1 h of feeding and remained elevated for 12 h. Net hepatic lactate production, measured with an A-V difference technique, rose from 3.5 +/- 2.8 to 19.4 +/- 3.1 mumol X kg-1 X min-1 h after the meal and declined slowly over the next 22 h. The liver then began to consume lactate so that at 30 h net hepatic uptake was 5.7 +/- 0.5 mumol X kg-1 X min-1. The total hepatic uptake of the gluconeogenic amino acids (alanine, glycine, serine, threonine) increased from 5.3 +/- 0.8 to 11.5 +/- 2.5 mumol X kg-1 X min-1 at 1 h and remained elevated for 4 h. The arterial alanine level rose from 0.36 +/- 0.03 to 0.51 +/- 0.04 mM at 2 h and remained elevated for 18 h. Insulin increased from 11 +/- 2 microU/ml to a maximum of 44 +/- 5 4 h after the meal, and the glucagon level rose from 59 +/- 8 pg/ml to a maximum of 150 +/- 22 1 h after feeding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Age-related changes in rat adipose tissue in response to fasting: protein, lactate and pyruvate levels

1. The evolution with age of the metabolic response of adipose tissue to fasting has been investigated in two groups of rats, at different ages, fed and fasted. 2. The protein tissue content increases in response to fasting in young rats but not in adult-old ones. This indicates a lower lipomobilizing response to starvation with increasing age. 3. In contrast to young rats, the adult rat lactate is not increased by fasting while pyruvate is increased. 4. As a result of lactate and pyruvate variations, NAD/NADH is also changed: after fasting it decreases in young rats, while it increases in older rats. 5. Absolute NAD level is decreased by fasting both in young and older rats. 6. These data provide experimental support for the decreased sensitivity of fat pads from older animals to stimuli affecting lipolysis.

Lactate metabolism and cytosolic NADH reducing equivalents in ovine adipocytes

1. Isolated ovine adipocytes, unlike rat adipose tissue, could utilize lactate at a high rate. 2. When the rate of fatty acid synthesis was attenuated with 5-(tetradecyloxy)-2-furoic acid, a fatty acid synthesis inhibitor, there was a good positive correlation between the rates of lactate oxidation to CO2 and lactate incorporation into fatty acids. 3. Addition of 2,4-dinitrophenol enhanced lactate oxidation to CO2 independent of fatty acid synthesis. Under this condition, estimated cytosolic NADH formation from lactate dehydrogenation exceeded the need of NADH for cytosolic oxaloacetate reduction and for glyceride glycerol formation. 4. Mitochondria isolated from ovine adipocytes oxidized added NADH rapidly in a reconstituted alpha-glycerophosphate shuttle system. 5. It is possible that the ability of ovine adipocytes to utilize lactate may be related to the active alpha-glycerophosphate shuttle for cytosolic NADH reoxidation.

Relationship between lactate and glutamine metabolism in vitro by the kidney: differences between dog and rat and importance of alanine synthesis in the dog

Interaction between lactate (1 or 5 mM) and glutamine (1 or 5 mM) metabolism was studied with renal cortical slices incubated at a pH of 7.0 and obtained from acidotic (ammonium chloride) dogs and rats. The effect of aminooxyacetate (0.2 mM), dichloroacetate (3 mM), and fluoroacetate (0.05 mM) was also studied. Significant differences were observed between dog and rat. In the dog, lactate had no effect on glutamine uptake and vice versa, but gluconeogenesis increased. Ammonia production, however, decreased by 13 to 21%, whereas a significant increase in alanine production was noted. In the rat, glutamine extraction and ammonia production dropped by 33% with 5 mM lactate. In contrast to the observation in the dog, no production of alanine was noted, but significant accumulation of glutamate took place. Amino-oxyacetate inhibited alanine production in the dog and reestablished ammoniagenesis, and it led to a marked decrement in the uptake of lactate and glucose production in both species. Dichloroacetate in the dog resulted in a reduction in pyruvate, alanine, glucose, and ammonia production while glutamate accumulation was observed. In both species, fluoroacetate stimulated glutamine uptake and ammonia production. With lactate alone, fluoroacetate decreased lactate uptake and glucose production. With both lactate and glutamine in the medium, fluoroacetate prevented any effect of lactate on ammoniagenesis. The present study demonstrates that lactate has a modest depressing effect on renal ammonia production by dog slices through increased synthesis of alanine and redistribution of nitrogen from glutamine. In the rat, the depressing effect of lactate on ammonia production in the alanine amino-transferase deficient kidney occurs through accumulation of glutamate. The data also reveal that oxidation of lactate to carbon dioxide is greater in the dog than it is in the rat, but that gluconeogenesis from lactate is more important in the rat.

Effects of insulin upon fatty acids synthesis from pyruvate, lactate, and glucose in rat mammary cells

In isolated rat mammary secretory cells, insulin stimulated fatty acid synthesis from pyruvate three times, stimulated glucose conversion to fatty acids 1.2 to 1.5 times, and decreased lactate conversion to fatty acids 20 to 30%. Incubation of glucose and pyruvate together depressed fatty acid synthesis from glucose not attributable to isotope dilution. Glucose stimulated conversion of pyruvate-2-14 carbon to fatty acids without significantly affecting pyruvate-1-14 carbon conversion to 14-carbon dioxide. At differing concentrations, the electron acceptors phenazine methosulfate and N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylene-diamine alleviated the depression by insulin of lactate conversion to fatty acids. The data support concepts that: (1) insulin acts at important sites other than or in addition to glucose transport in regulating mammary secretory cell metabolism and, particularly, fatty acid synthesis; (2) insulin actions upon fatty acid synthesis can vary dependent upon cellular redox state (insulin increases fatty acid synthesis in cells with a low redox state and decreases fatty acid synthesis in cells in a very reduced state); and (3) pyruvate depresses glucose carbon flux through the Embden-Meyerhof pathway.

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.