The molecular and metabolic program by which white adipocytes adapt to cool physiologic temperatures

Although visceral adipocytes located within the body's central core are maintained at approximately 37°C, adipocytes within bone marrow, subcutaneous, and dermal depots are found primarily within the peripheral shell and generally exist at cooler temperatures. Responses of brown and beige/brite adipocytes to cold stress are well studied; however, comparatively little is known about mechanisms by which white adipocytes adapt to temperatures below 37°C. Here, we report that adaptation of cultured adipocytes to 31°C, the temperature at which distal marrow adipose tissues and subcutaneous adipose tissues often reside, increases anabolic and catabolic lipid metabolism, and elevates oxygen consumption. Cool adipocytes rely less on glucose and more on pyruvate, glutamine, and, especially, fatty acids as energy sources. Exposure of cultured adipocytes and gluteal white adipose tissue (WAT) to cool temperatures activates a shared program of gene expression. Cool temperatures induce stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) expression and monounsaturated lipid levels in cultured adipocytes and distal bone marrow adipose tissues (BMATs), and SCD1 activity is required for acquisition of maximal oxygen consumption at 31°C.

Epigenetic Regulation of TLR4 in Diabetic Macrophages Modulates Immunometabolism and Wound Repair

Macrophages are critical for the initiation and resolution of the inflammatory phase of wound healing. In diabetes, macrophages display a prolonged inflammatory phenotype preventing tissue repair. TLRs, particularly TLR4, have been shown to regulate myeloid-mediated inflammation in wounds. We examined macrophages isolated from wounds of patients afflicted with diabetes and healthy controls as well as a murine diabetic model demonstrating dynamic expression of TLR4 results in altered metabolic pathways in diabetic macrophages. Further, using a myeloid-specific mixed-lineage leukemia 1 (MLL1) knockout (Mll1^f/fLyz2^Cre+ ), we determined that MLL1 drives Tlr4 expression in diabetic macrophages by regulating levels of histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation on the Tlr4 promoter. Mechanistically, MLL1-mediated epigenetic alterations influence diabetic macrophage responsiveness to TLR4 stimulation and inhibit tissue repair. Pharmacological inhibition of the TLR4 pathway using a small molecule inhibitor (TAK-242) as well as genetic depletion of either Tlr4 (Tlr4^-/- ) or myeloid-specific Tlr4 (Tlr4^f/fLyz2^Cre+) resulted in improved diabetic wound healing. These results define an important role for MLL1-mediated epigenetic regulation of TLR4 in pathologic diabetic wound repair and suggest a target for therapeutic manipulation.

Differential contribution of pyruvate carboxylation to anaplerosis and cataplerosis during non-gluconeogenic and gluconeogenic conditions in HepG2 cells

Pyruvate carboxylase (PC) is an anaplerotic enzyme that supplies oxaloacetate to mitochondria enabling the maintenance of other metabolic intermediates consumed by cataplerosis. Using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to measure metabolic intermediates derived from uniformly labeled ¹³C₆-glucose or [3-¹³C]l-lactate, we investigated the contribution of PC to anaplerosis and cataplerosis in the liver cell line HepG2. Suppression of PC expression by short hairpin RNA lowered incorporation of ¹³C glucose incorporation into tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates, aspartate, glutamate and sugar derivatives, indicating impaired cataplerosis. The perturbation of these biosynthetic pathways is accompanied by a marked decrease of cell viability and proliferation. In contrast, under gluconeogenic conditions where the HepG2 cells use lactate as a carbon source, pyruvate carboxylation contributed very little to the maintenance of these metabolites. Suppression of PC did not affect the percent incorporation of ¹³C-labeled carbon from lactate into citrate, α-ketoglutarate, malate, succinate as well as aspartate and glutamate, suggesting that under gluconeogenic condition, PC does not support cataplerosis from lactate.

Mass spectrometry analysis shows the biosynthetic pathways supported by pyruvate carboxylase in highly invasive breast cancer cells

We recently showed that the anaplerotic enzyme pyruvate carboxylase (PC) is up-regulated in human breast cancer tissue and its expression is correlated with the late stages of breast cancer and tumor size [Phannasil et al., PloS One 10, e0129848, 2015]. In the current study we showed that PC enzyme activity is much higher in the highly invasive breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 than in less invasive breast cancer cell lines. We generated multiple stable PC knockdown cell lines from the MDA-MB-231 cell line and used mass spectrometry with ¹³C₆-glucose and ¹³C₅-glutamine to discern the pathways that use PC in support of cell growth. Cells with severe PC knockdown showed a marked reduction in viability and proliferation rates suggesting the perturbation of pathways that are involved in cancer invasiveness. Strong PC suppression lowered glucose incorporation into downstream metabolites of oxaloacetate, the product of the PC reaction, including malate, citrate and aspartate. Levels of pyruvate, lactate, the redox partner of pyruvate, and acetyl-CoA were also lower suggesting the impairment of mitochondrial pyruvate cycles. Serine, glycine and 5-carbon sugar levels and flux of glucose into fatty acids were decreased. ATP, ADP and NAD(H) levels were unchanged indicating that PC suppression did not significantly affect mitochondrial energy production. The data indicate that the major metabolic roles of PC in invasive breast cancer are primarily anaplerosis, pyruvate cycling and mitochondrial biosynthesis of precursors of cellular components required for breast cancer cell growth and replication.

Knockdown of ATP citrate lyase in pancreatic beta cells does not inhibit insulin secretion or glucose flux and implicates the acetoacetate pathway in insulin secretion

Objective

Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in pancreatic beta cells requires metabolic signals including the generation of glucose-derived short chain acyl-CoAs in the cytosol from mitochondrially-derived metabolites. One concept of insulin secretion is that ATP citrate lyase generates short chain acyl-CoAs in the cytosol from mitochondrially-derived citrate. Of these, malonyl-CoA, is believed to be an important signal in insulin secretion. Malonyl-CoA is also a precursor for lipids. Our recent evidence suggested that, in the mitochondria of beta cells, glucose-derived pyruvate can be metabolized to acetoacetate that is exported to the cytosol and metabolized to the same short chain acyl-CoAs and fatty acids that can be derived from citrate. We tested for redundancy of the citrate pathway.

Methods

We inhibited ATP citrate lyase activity using hydroxycitrate as well as studying a stable cell line generated with shRNA knockdown of ATP citrate lyase in the pancreatic beta cell line INS-1 832/13.

Results

In both instances glucose-stimulated insulin release was not inhibited. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that the flux of carbon from [U-¹³C]glucose and/or [U-¹³C]α-ketoisocaproic acid (KIC) into short chain acyl-CoAs in cells with hydroxycitrate-inhibited ATP citrate lyase or in the cell line with stable severe (>90%) shRNA knockdown of ATP citrate lyase was similar to the controls. Both ¹³C-glucose and ¹³C-KIC introduced substantial ¹³C labeling into acetyl-CoA, malonyl-CoA, and HMG-CoA under both conditions. Glucose flux into fatty acids was not affected by ATP citrate lyase knockdown.

Conclusion

The results establish the involvement of the acetoacetate pathway in insulin secretion in pancreatic beta cells.

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In pancreatic beta cells mitochondria synthesize metabolites from glucose.

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Mitochondria-derived citrate and acetoacetate can transfer carbon to the cytosol.

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The citrate pathway requires ATP citrate lyase (ACLY).

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Inhibition of ACLY did not stop metabolite export to the cytosol or insulin release.

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The results establish the role of the acetoacetate pathway in insulin secretion.

Alterations in lipid signaling underlie lipodystrophy secondary to AGPAT2 mutations

Congenital generalized lipodystrophy (CGL), secondary to AGPAT2 mutation is characterized by the absence of adipocytes and development of severe insulin resistance. In the current study, we investigated the adipogenic defect associated with AGPAT2 mutations. Adipogenesis was studied in muscle-derived multipotent cells (MDMCs) isolated from vastus lateralis biopsies obtained from controls and subjects harboring AGPAT2 mutations and in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes after knockdown or overexpression of AGPAT2. We demonstrate an adipogenic defect using MDMCs from control and CGL human subjects with mutated AGPAT2. This defect was rescued in CGL MDMCs with a retrovirus expressing AGPAT2. Both CGL-derived MDMCs and 3T3-L1 cells with knockdown of AGPAT2 demonstrated an increase in cell death after induction of adipogenesis. Lack of AGPAT2 activity reduces Akt activation, and overexpression of constitutively active Akt can partially restore lipogenesis. AGPAT2 modulated the levels of phosphatidic acid, lysophosphatidic acid, phosphatidylinositol species, as well as the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) inhibitor cyclic phosphatidic acid. The PPARγ agonist pioglitazone partially rescued the adipogenic defect in CGL cells. We conclude that AGPAT2 regulates adipogenesis through the modulation of the lipome, altering normal activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt and PPARγ pathways in the early stages of adipogenesis.