TRP channels in brown and white adipogenesis from human progenitors: new therapeutic targets and the caveats associated with the common antibiotic, streptomycin (original) (raw)

Constitutively Active TRPC Channels of Adipocytes Confer a Mechanism for Sensing Dietary Fatty Acids and Regulating Adiponectin

Circulation Research, 2012

Rationale: Calcium entry is pivotal in the heart and blood vessels, but its significance and mechanisms in adipose tissue are largely unknown. An important factor produced by adipocytes is adiponectin, which confers myocardial protection, insulin-sensitization, and antiatherosclerotic effects. Objective: To investigate the relevance of calcium channels to adipocytes and the production of adiponectin. Methods and Results: Microarray analysis led to identification of transient receptor potential canonical (TRPC)1 and TRPC5 as channel subunits that are induced when adipocytes mature. Both subunits were found in perivascular fat of patients with atherosclerosis. Intracellular calcium and patch-clamp measurements showed that adipocytes exhibit constitutively active calcium-permeable nonselective cationic channels that depend on TRPC1 and TRPC5. The activity could be enhanced by lanthanum or rosiglitazone, known stimulators of TRPC5 and TRPC5-containing channels. Screening identified lipi...

Chronic Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ (PPARγ) Activation of Epididymally Derived White Adipocyte Cultures Reveals a Population of Thermogenically Competent, UCP1-containing Adipocytes Molecularly Distinct from Classic Brown Adipocytes

Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2009

The recent insight that brown adipocytes and muscle cells share a common origin and in this respect are distinct from white adipocytes has spurred questions concerning the origin and molecular characteristics of the UCP1-expressing cells observed in classic white adipose tissue depots under certain physiological or pharmacological conditions. Examining precursors from the purest white adipose tissue depot (epididymal), we report here that chronic treatment with the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ␥ agonist rosiglitazone promotes not only the expression of PGC-1␣ and mitochondriogenesis in these cells but also a norepinephrine-augmentable UCP1 gene expression in a significant subset of the cells, providing these cells with a genuine thermogenic capacity. However, although functional thermogenic genes are expressed, the cells are devoid of transcripts for the novel transcription factors now associated with classic brown adipocytes (Zic1, Lhx8, Meox2, and characteristically PRDM16) or for myocyte-associated genes (myogenin and myomirs (muscle-specific microRNAs)) and retain white fat characteristics such as Hoxc9 expression. Co-culture experiments verify that the UCP1-expressing cells are not proliferating classic brown adipocytes (adipomyocytes), and these cells therefore constitute a subset of adipocytes ("brite" adipocytes) with a developmental origin and molecular characteristics distinguishing them as a separate class of cells.

Differentiation-Dependent Expression of the Brown Adipocyte Uncoupling Protein Gene: Regulation by Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ

Molecular and Cellular Biology, 1996

Uncoupling protein (UCP) is expressed only in brown adipocytes and is responsible for the unique thermogenic properties of this cell type. The novel brown preadipocyte cell line, HIB-1B, expresses UCP in a strictly differentiation-dependent manner. Transgenic mice studies have shown that a region from kb -2.8 to -1.0 of the marine UCP gene is required for brown adipocyte-specific expression. Subsequent analysis identified a potent 220-bp enhancer from kb -2.5 to -2.3. We show that this enhancer is active only in differentiated HIB-1B adipocytes, and we identify a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma) response element, referred to as UCP regulatory element 1 (URE1), within the enhancer. URE1 has differentiation-dependent enhancing activity in HIB-1B cells and is required for enhancer action, since mutations of URE1 that block protein binding abolish enhancer activity. We also show that PPAR gamma antibodies block binding to URE1 of nuclear extracts from culture...

Myogenic gene expression signature establishes that brown and white adipocytes originate from distinct cell lineages

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007

Attainment of a brown adipocyte cell phenotype in white adipocytes, with their abundant mitochondria and increased energy expenditure potential, is a legitimate strategy for combating obesity. The unique transcriptional regulators of the primary brown adipocyte phenotype are unknown, limiting our ability to promote brown adipogenesis over white. In the present work, we used microarray analysis strategies to study primary preadipocytes, and we made the striking discovery that brown preadipocytes demonstrate a myogenic transcriptional signature, whereas both brown and white primary preadipocytes demonstrate signatures distinct from those found in immortalized adipogenic models. We found a plausible SIRT1-related transcriptional signature during brown adipocyte differentiation that may contribute to silencing the myogenic signature. In contrast to brown preadipocytes or skeletal muscle cells, white preadipocytes express Tcf21, a transcription factor that has been shown to suppress myogenesis and nuclear receptor activity. In addition, we identified a number of developmental genes that are differentially expressed between brown and white preadipocytes and that have recently been implicated in human obesity. The interlinkage between the myocyte and the brown preadipocyte confirms the distinct origin for brown versus white adipose tissue and also represents a plausible explanation as to why brown adipocytes ultimately specialize in lipid catabolism rather than storage, much like oxidative skeletal muscle tissue.

Transcriptional Synergy and the Regulation of Ucp1 during Brown Adipocyte Induction in White Fat Depots

Molecular and Cellular Biology, 2005

Induction of brown adipocytes in white fat depots by adrenergic stimulation is a complex genetic trait in mice that affects the ability of the animal to regulate body weight. An 80-fold difference in expression of the mitochondrial uncoupling gene ( Ucp1 ) at the mRNA and protein levels between A/J and C57BL/6J (B6) mice is controlled by allelic interactions among nine quantitative trait loci (QTLs) on eight chromosomes. Overlapping patterns of these QTLs also regulate expression levels of Pgc - 1 α, Ppar α, and type 2 deiodinase. Independent validation that PPARα is associated with Ucp1 induction was obtained by treating mice with the PPARα agonist clofibrate, but not from the analysis of PPARα knockout mice. The most upstream sites of regulation for Ucp1 that differed between A/J and B6 were the phosphorylation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and CREB and then followed by downstream changes in levels of mRNA for PPARγ, PPARα, PGC-1α, and type 2 deiodinase. However, compare...

Distinct regulatory mechanisms governing embryonic versus adult adipocyte maturation

Nature cell biology, 2015

Pathological expansion of adipose tissue contributes to the metabolic syndrome. Distinct depots develop at various times under different physiological conditions. The transcriptional cascade mediating adipogenesis is established in vitro, and centres around a core program involving PPARγ and C/EBPα. We developed an inducible, adipocyte-specific knockout system to probe the requirement of key adipogenic transcription factors at various stages of adipogenesis in vivo. C/EBPα is essential for all white adipogenic conditions in the adult stage, such as adipose tissue regeneration, adipogenesis in muscle and unhealthy expansion of white adipose tissue during high-fat feeding or due to leptin deficiency. Surprisingly, terminal embryonic adipogenesis is fully C/EBPα independent, but does however depend on PPARγ; cold-induced beige adipogenesis is also C/EBPα independent. Moreover, C/EBPα is not vital for adipocyte survival in the adult stage. We reveal a surprising diversity of transcripti...

Human fetal mesenchymal stem cells differentiate into brown and white adipocytes: a role for ERRα in human UCP1 expression

Cell Research, 2010

We have investigated the ability of fetal mesenchymal stem cells (fMSCs) to differentiate into brown and white adipocytes and compared the expression of a number of marker genes and key regulatory factors. We have shown that the expression of key adipocyte regulators and markers during differentiation is similar to that in other human and murine adipocyte models, including induction of PPARγ2 and FABP4. Notably we found that the pre-adipocyte marker Pref-1, is induced early in differentiation and then declines markedly as the process continues, suggesting that fMSCs first acquire pre-adipocyte characteristics as they commit to the adipogenic lineage, prior to their differentiation into mature adipocytes. After adipogenic induction, some stem cell isolates differentiated into cells resembling brown adipocytes and others into white. Detailed investigation of one isolate showed that the novel brown fat determining factor PRDM16 is expressed both before and after differentiation. Importantly these cells exhibited elevated basal UCP-1 expression, which was dependent on the activity of the orphan nuclear receptor ERRα, highlighting a novel role for ERRα in human brown fat. Thus fetal MSCs represent a useful in vitro model for human adipogenesis, and provide opportunities to study the stages prior to commitment to the adipocyte lineage. They also offer invaluable insights into the characteristics of human brown fat.

Manipulating molecular switches in brown adipocytes and their precursors: A therapeutic potential

Progress in Lipid Research, 2013

Brown adipocytes constitute a metabolically active tissue responsible for non-shivering thermogenesis and the depletion of excess calories. Differentiation of brown fat adipocytes de novo or stimulation of pre-existing brown adipocytes within white adipose depots could provide a novel method for reducing the obesity and alleviating the consequences of type II diabetes worldwide. In this review, we addressed several molecular mechanisms involved in the control of brown fat activity, namely, the b 3 -adrenergic stimulation of thermogenesis during exposure to cold or by catecholamines; the augmentation of thyroid function; the modulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARc), transcription factors of the C/EBP family, and the PPARc co-activator PRDM16; the COX-2-driven expression of UCP1; the stimulation of the vanilloid subfamily receptor TRPV1 by capsaicin and monoacylglycerols; the effects of BMP7 or its analogs; the cannabinoid receptor antagonists and melanogenesis modulating agents. Manipulating one or more of these pathways may provide a solution to the problem of harnessing brown fat's thermogenic potential. However, a better understanding of their interplay and other homeostatic mechanisms is required for the development of novel therapies for millions of obese and/or diabetic individuals.