Glycerolipid synthesis in isolated adipocytes: substrate dependence and influence of norepinephrine

Insulin and fatty acids regulate the expression of the fat droplet-associated protein adipophilin in primary human trophoblasts

OBJECTIVE

This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that insulin and fatty acids regulate adipophilin expression in cultured human trophoblasts.

STUDY DESIGN

Cytotrophoblasts isolated from term human placentas were cultured in the absence or presence of insulin (10 nmol/L), and a mix of oleic and linoleic acid in serum-free medium. The expression of adipophilin as well as the fatty acid transport proteins (FATP) 2, 3, 4 and 6 was examined. Fat accumulation was quantified by BODIPY staining and fat uptake determined using [3H]-oleic acid.

RESULTS

A combination of insulin and fatty acids enhanced the expression of adipophilin (2.3-fold, P < .05). In contrast, the expression of FATPs was unchanged. Furthermore, insulin and fatty acids increased the accumulation of fat droplets in trophoblasts by 4- to 5-fold (P < .05), but had no effect on oleic acid uptake.

CONCLUSION

Insulin and fatty acids enhance the expression of adipophilin and the formation of fatty acid droplets in term human trophoblasts.

Fatty acid transport across membranes: relevance to nutrition and metabolic pathology

Long-chain fatty acids are an important constituent of the diet and they contribute to a multitude of cellular pathways and functions. Uptake of long-chain fatty acids across plasma membranes is the first step in fatty acid utilization, and recent evidence supports an important regulatory role for this process. Although uptake of fatty acids involves two components, passive diffusion through the lipid bilayer and protein-facilitated transfer, the latter component appears to play the major role in mediating uptake by key tissues. Identification of several proteins as fatty acid transporters, and emerging evidence from genetically altered animal models for some of these proteins, has contributed significant insight towards understanding the limiting role of transport in the regulation of fatty acid utilization. We are also beginning to better appreciate how disturbances in fatty acid utilization influence general metabolism and contribute to metabolic pathology.

Fat cells

The adipocyte is a metabolically active cell that functions to store energy for times of energy deprivation or enhanced need. Obesity is characterized by increased lipid accumulation and turnover compared with the nonobese state. Both triglyceride synthesis and lipolysis are regulated metabolic processes in the adipocyte. Current research on the metabolic activities of the human adipocyte focus on plasma triglyceride hydrolysis and uptake of fatty acids by LPL, esterification of these fatty acids, and the subsequent triglyceride breakdown by hormone-sensitive lipase in response to stimulation of adrenergic receptors. These topics are discussed in relationship to the development of obesity.

A protein tyrosine kinase associated with the ATP-dependent inactivation of adipose diacylglycerol acyltransferase

The activity that has been previously reported to reversibly inactivate adipose glycerolphosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) and diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) in vitro in the presence of ATP is shown here to be partially purified from adipose tissue with an apparent molecular weight of 68 kDa. The activity responsible for inactivating DGAT is associated with a kinase activity as determined by phosphate incorporation both into microsomal proteins and into a synthetic tyrosine-containing peptide as substrate for protein tyrosine kinase. Two microsomal polypeptides of 53 and 69 kDa are major substrates of this kinase. Both DGAT inactivating and kinase activities assayed from the purified sample have been found to be insensitive to the Ser/Thr kinase inhibitor H-7 while being sensitive to genistein and tyrphostin-25. A crude protein phosphatase preparation from liver was capable of reversing the effects of both activities. The purified sample was also shown to inactivate GPAT in the presence of ATP. These results suggest that a protein tyrosine kinase, in concert with a protein tyrosine phosphatase, may regulate the activities of DGAT and GPAT by a phosphorylation-dephosphorylation mechanism.