Effect of noradrenaline on triacylglycerol synthesis in rat brown adipocytes

Renaissance of brown adipose tissue research: integrating the old and new

The recent demonstration of active brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans, along with the discovery of vast cellular and metabolic plasticity of adipocyte phenotypes, has given new hope of targeting adipose tissue for therapeutic benefit. Application of principles learned from the first wave of obesity-related BAT research, conducted 30 years earlier, suggests that the activity and/or mass of brown fat will need to be greatly expanded for it to significantly contribute to total energy expenditure. Although the thermogenic capacity of human brown fat is very modest, its presence often correlates with improved metabolic status, suggesting possible beneficial endocrine functions. Recent advances in our understanding of the nature of progenitors and the transcriptional programs that guide phenotypic diversity have demonstrated the possibility of expanding the population of brown adipocytes in rodent models. Expanded populations of brown and beige adipocytes will require tight control of their metabolic activity, which might be achieved by selective neural activation, tissue-selective signaling or direct activation of lipolysis, which supplies the central fuel of thermogenesis.

Short-term calorie restriction enhances skeletal muscle stem cell function

Calorie restriction (CR) extends life span and ameliorates age-related pathologies in most species studied, yet the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. Using mouse skeletal muscle as a model, we show that CR acts in part by enhancing the function of tissue-specific stem cells. Even short-term CR significantly enhanced stem cell availability and activity in the muscle of young and old animals, in concert with an increase in mitochondrial abundance and induction of conserved metabolic and longevity regulators. Moreover, CR enhanced endogenous muscle repair and CR initiated in either donor or recipient animals improved the contribution of donor cells to regenerating muscle after transplant. These studies indicate that metabolic factors play a critical role in regulating stem cell function and that this regulation can influence the efficacy of recovery from injury and the engraftment of transplanted cells.

Norepinephrine and rosiglitazone synergistically induce Elovl3 expression in brown adipocytes

The Elovl3 gene, which putatively encodes for a protein involved in the elongation of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in the C20-C24 range, is expressed in murine liver, skin, and brown adipose tissue (BAT). In BAT, Elovl3 is dramatically upregulated during tissue activation in response to cold exposure, and functional data imply that ELOVL3 is a critical enzyme for lipid accumulation in brown adipocytes during the early phase of tissue recruitment. The activation of BAT is controlled by sympathetic nerve activity and norepinephrine release. By using primary cultures of brown adipocytes, we show here that the induced Elovl3 gene expression is synergistically regulated by norepinephrine and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) gamma ligand rosiglitazone. In addition, the potency of rosiglitazone to induce Elovl3 expression was several orders of magnitude higher than for the PPARalpha and PPARdelta ligands WY-14643 and L-165041, respectively. The maximal increase in mRNA level by norepinephrine and rosiglitazone is achieved by induced transcription as well as increased mRNA stability, and the whole process requires novel protein synthesis. We conclude that norepinehrine and PPARgamma, despite having different roles in brown adipocyte activation and differentiation, cooperate in expanding the intracellular lipid pool by synergistically stimulating Elovl3 expression.

ELOVL3 is an important component for early onset of lipid recruitment in brown adipose tissue

During the recruitment process of brown adipose tissue, the mRNA level of the fatty acyl chain elongase Elovl3 is elevated more than 200-fold in cold-stressed mice. We have obtained Elovl3-ablated mice and report here that, although cold-acclimated Elovl3-ablated mice experienced an increased heat loss due to impaired skin barrier, they were unable to hyperrecruit their brown adipose tissue. Instead, they used muscle shivering in order to maintain body temperature. Lack of Elovl3 resulted in a transient decrease in the capacity to elongate saturated fatty acyl-CoAs into very long chain fatty acids, concomitantly with the occurrence of reduced levels of arachidic acid (C20:0) and behenic acid (C22:0) in brown adipose tissue during the initial cold stress. This effect on very long chain fatty acid synthesis could be illustrated as a decrease in the condensation activity of the elongation enzyme. In addition, warm-acclimated Elovl3-ablated mice showed diminished ability to accumulate fat and reduced metabolic capacity within the brown fat cells. This points to ELOVL3 as an important regulator of endogenous synthesis of saturated very long chain fatty acids and triglyceride formation in brown adipose tissue during the early phase of the tissue recruitment.

Differential regulation of fatty acid elongation enzymes in brown adipocytes implies a unique role for Elovl3 during increased fatty acid oxidation

The expression of the Elovl3 gene, which belongs to the Elovl gene family coding for microsomal enzymes involved in very long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA) elongation, is dramatically increased in mouse brown adipose tissue upon cold stimulation. In the present study, we show that the cold-induced Elovl3 expression is under the control of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-alpha (PPARalpha) and that this regulation is part of a fundamental divergence in the regulation of expression for the different members of the Elovl gene family. In cultured brown adipocytes, a mixture of norepinephrine, dexamethasone, and the PPARalpha ligand Wy-14643, which rendered the adipocytes a high oxidative state, was required for substantial induction of Elovl3 expression, whereas the same treatment suppressed Elovl1 mRNA levels. The nuclear liver X receptor (LXR) has been implicated in the control of fatty acid synthesis and subsequent lipogenic processes in several tissues. This regulation is also exerted in part by sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP-1), which is a target gene of LXR. We found that stimulation of Elovl3 expression was independent of LXR and SREBP-1 activation. In addition, exposure to the LXR agonist TO-901317 increased nuclear abundance of LXR and mature SREBP-1 as well as expression of the elongases Lce and Elovl1 in a lipogenic fashion but repressed Elovl3 expression. A functional consequence of this was seen on the level of esterified saturated fatty acids, such as C22:0, which was coupled to Elovl3 expression. These data demonstrate differential transcriptional regulation and concomitantly different functional roles for fatty acid elongases in lipid metabolism of brown adipocytes, which reflects the metabolic status of the cells.

Activities of enzymes of glycerolipid synthesis in brown adipose tissue after treatment of rats with the adrenergic agonists BRL 26830A and phenylephrine, after exposure to cold and in streptozotocin-diabetes

1. Measurements were made, relative to tissue DNA, of the activities of enzymes of glycerolipid synthesis in homogenates of interscapular brown adipose tissue. These were: mitochondrial and microsomal forms of glycerolphosphate acyltransferase (GPAT), Mg(2+)-dependent phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PPH) and fatty acyl-CoA synthetase (FAS). 2. In normal animals, 3 days of cold-exposure (4 degrees C) increased all activities. The increase in mitochondrial GPAT activity was particularly pronounced (5-fold). Administration of the beta-adrenergic agonist BRL 26830A mimicked the effect of cold on microsomal GPAT activity. Mitochondrial GPAT, PPH and FAS activities were unresponsive to BRL 26830A. The alpha-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine significantly decreased activities of GPAT and PPH. 3. Streptozotocin-diabetes decreased mitochondrial GPAT activity, but did not abolish the effect of cold to increase this activity or the activity of microsomal GPAT. Diabetes abolished the effect of cold on PPH and FAS activities. 4. The findings are relevant to signals that drive early events in mitochondriogenesis and cell proliferation in brown adipose tissue on exposure to cold.