quantitative-determination-de-novo-fatty-acid-synthesis-brown-adipose

Quantitative Determination of <em>De Novo</em> Fatty Acid Synthesis in Brown Adipose Tissue Using Deuterium Oxide

Fatty acid synthesis is a complex and highly energy demanding metabolic pathway with important functional roles in the control of whole-body metabolic ...

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Brown adipose tissue is well known to be a thermoregulatory organ particularly important in small rodents and human infants, but it was only recently that its existence and significance to metabolic fitness in adult humans have been widely realized. The ability of active brown fat to expend high amounts of energy has raised interest in stimulating thermogenesis therapeutically to treat metabolic diseases related to obesity and type 2 diabetes. In parallel, there has been a surge of research aimed at understanding the biology of rodent and human brown fat development, its remarkable metabolic properties, and the phenomenon of white fat browning, in which white adipocytes can be converted into brown like adipocytes with similar thermogenic properties. Here, we review the current understanding of the developmental and metabolic pathways involved in forming thermogenic adipocytes, and highlight some of the many unknown functions of brown fat that make its study a rich and exciting area for future research.

Brown Adipose Tissue Development and Metabolism.

Understanding the signaling mechanisms that control brown adipose tissue (BAT) development is relevant to understanding energy homeostasis and obesity. The AKT kinases are insulin effectors with critical in vivo functions in adipocytes; however, their role in adipocyte development remains poorly understood. The goal of this study was to investigate AKT function in BAT development.

Brown fat organogenesis and maintenance requires AKT1 and AKT2.

Techniques to trace and isolate brown adipocyte precursor and adipocytes during development and disease are essential to fully understand brown adipose tissue development and function. Here we report several protocols using the R26R-mTmG reporter mice in thermogenic tissues based on confocal microscopy and fluorescence based flow cytometry. These techniques may be useful to understand the influence of genetic or environmental alterations in brown adipocyte precursors and adipocyte biology.

Joan Sanchez-Gurmaches

Division of Endocrinology,
Division of Developmental Biology

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Quantitative Determination of De Novo Fatty Acid Synthesis in Brown Adipose Tissue Using Deuterium Oxide

Joan Sanchez-Gurmaches

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Division of Endocrinology,Division of Developmental Biology

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati

Quantitative Determination of De Novo Fatty Acid Synthesis in Brown Adipose Tissue Using Deuterium Oxide

Division of Endocrinology,
Division of Developmental Biology