Gene Expression Analysis of Environmental Temperature and High-Fat Diet-Induced Changes in Mouse Supraclavicular Brown Adipose Tissue.

Giang Hoang,Miao-Hsueh Chen,Yi-Ting Shen,Yali Ran,Yufeng Shi,Honglei Zhai,Sharon John

doi:10.3390/cells10061370

Giang Hoang, Miao-Hsueh Chen + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10061370

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Abstract

Obesity, a dysregulation of adipose tissue, is a major health risk factor associated with many diseases. Brown adipose tissue (BAT)-mediated thermogenesis can potentially regulate energy expenditure, making it an attractive therapeutic target to combat obesity. Here, we characterize the effects of cold exposure, thermoneutrality, and high-fat diet (HFD) feeding on mouse supraclavicular BAT (scBAT) morphology and BAT-associated gene expression compared to other adipose depots, including the interscapular BAT (iBAT). scBAT was as sensitive to cold induced thermogenesis as iBAT and showed reduced thermogenic effect under thermoneutrality. While both scBAT and iBAT are sensitive to cold, the expression of genes involved in nutrient processing is different. The scBAT also showed less depot weight gain and more single-lipid adipocytes, while the expression of BAT thermogenic genes, such as Ucp1, remained similar or increased more under our HFD feeding regime at ambient and thermoneutral temperatures than iBAT. Together, these findings show that, in addition to its anatomical resemblance to human scBAT, mouse scBAT possesses thermogenic features distinct from those of other adipose depots. Lastly, this study also characterizes a previously unknown mouse deep neck BAT (dnBAT) depot that exhibits similar thermogenic characteristics as scBAT under cold exposure and thermoneutrality.

Highlights

Published: 2 June 2021Obesity prevalence has increased in pandemic dimensions over the past 50 years [1].It represents a major health challenge as it substantially increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and several forms of cancers, thereby contributing to a decline in both quality of life and life expectancy [2,3]
To determine whether supraclavicular BAT (scBAT) was involved in this process, we isolated scBAT and other adipose depots, including interscapular BAT (iBAT), inguinal WAT (iWAT), and epididymal WAT (eWAT), from mice housed at ambient temperature and mice treated with cold exposure, and performed
To determine whether scBAT was involved in this process, we isolated scBAT and other adipose depots, including iBAT, iWAT, and eWAT, from mice housed at ambient temperature and mice treated with cold exposure, and performed H&E staining and gene expression analyses

Summary

Introduction

Obesity prevalence has increased in pandemic dimensions over the past 50 years [1]. It represents a major health challenge as it substantially increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and several forms of cancers, thereby contributing to a decline in both quality of life and life expectancy [2,3]. There are two major types of adipose tissues in mammals: white adipose tissue (WAT) and brown adipose tissue (BAT). WAT cells are classically spherical and composed of single lipid droplets and few mitochondria, while BAT cells are composed of multiple small lipid droplets and a large number of mitochondria [6]. Some smaller BAT depots can be found near the blood vessels in the cervical, axillary, and paravertebral regions as well as in proximity to the thoracic and abdominal viscera [8,9]

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