Role of estrogen-related receptor alpha in adipocyes lipolysis / 生物工程学报

Estrogen-related receptor a (ERRalpha) is a key regulator for energy metabolism and adipogenesis. However, its role in lipolysis is unknown. To study the function of ERRalpha in lipolysis, primary cultured differentiated porcine adipocytes were treated by a specific inverse agonist XCT790 or infected with adenoviral vector expressed ERRalpha for 48 h, in the absence and/or presence of specific protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor or extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) inhibitor. Then, we measured the triglyceride (TG) content and the glycerol release into the culture media to analysis the effect of ERRalpha on lipolysis; Further, we analyzed the expression of PPARgamma, perilipin A, p-perilipin A, HSL and ATGL with Western blotting. Here, we found that ERRalpha significantly increased adipocytes differentiation, TG accumulation and glycerol release. Separately or simultaneously block the PKA and ERK pathway do not significantly altered the effect of ERRalpha on glycerol release. ERRalpha significantly up-regulated the proteins expression of PPARgamma, perilipin A, HSL and ATGL, while the p-perilipin A protein level was not significantly changed. These findings imply that ERRalpha could increase lipolysis via up-regulating HSL and ATGL, thereby to supply more FFA as substrate for a larger turnover of cellular triglyceride pool during adipocytes differentiation.

Chronic high dose of insulin stimulates lipolysis in porcine adipocytes / 生物工程学报

To explore the effect of chronic high dose of insulin on lipolysis in porcine adipocytes and the underlying molecular regulation mechanisms, we cultured primary porcine adipocytes and incubated them with different concentrations of insulin (0, 200, 400, 800, 1600 nmol/L) for 24-96 h in the absence or presence of specific protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor or extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) inhibitor. Then, we measured the glycerol release into the culture media as an indicator of the lipolysis, and observed the lipid accumulation morphology by phase-contrast microscopy. Further, we analyzed the gene expressions of perilipin A and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma 2 (PPAR gamma 2) with semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. The results showed that chronic high dose of insulin stimulated lipolysis in differentiated porcine adipocytes in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and significantly attenuated the lipolytic response to isoprenaline. Meanwhile, the protein and mRNA expressions of PPAR gamma 2 and perilipin A were significantly reduced. In addition, both PKA and ERK inhibitors significantly suppressed insulin-stimulated lipolysis, however, only ERK inhibitor reversed the insulin-induced down-regulation of perilipin A. These findings imply that chronic high dose of insulin stimulates lipolysis in porcine adipocytes by repressing perilipin A, which is involved in ERK pathway.

Cloning, expression of the porcine estrogen-related receptor alpha gene and its effect on lipid accumulation in mature adipocytes / 生物工程学报

Estrogen-related receptor alpha (ERR alpha) is an orphan nuclear receptor and functions as a key regulator of energy metabolism in high energy demand tissues. However, its role in white adipose tissue is largely unknown. In this study, we aim to clone the ORF sequence of pig ERR alpha with touch down-PCR, analyze the expression pattern of ERR alpha protein and its subcellular localization with Western blotting and cell immunofluorescence method respectively, and identify the effect of ERR alpha on lipid accumulation in mature porcine adipocytes with its specific inhibitor XCT790. The results showed that the ERR alpha ORF sequence is 1269 bp (GenBank Accession No. FJ446485, not published), and encode 422 amino acids. The homologies of ERR alpha nucleotide and amino acids sequences are high in different species. ERR alpha protein is highly expressed in pig white adipose tissue, kidney and heart, while remarkably lower in spleen. Cell immunofluorescence results indicated that ERR alpha protein distribute widely in adipocytes nucleus and cytoplasm. XCT790 significantly inhibited the expression of ERR alpha and lipid accumulation in porcine mature adipocyte. This study will provide new target and theoretical reference for fat deposition control.