Uncoupling protein 2 and metabolic diseases

Uncoupling Protein 2 Negatively Regulates

Uncoupling protein 2 and islet function.

Stressors such as chronic hyperglycemia or hyperlipidemia may lead to insufficient insulin secretion in susceptible individuals, contributing to type 2 diabetes. The molecules mediating this effect are just beginning to be identified. Uncoupling protein (UCP)-2 may be one such negative modulator of insulin secretion. Accumulating evidence shows that beta-cell UCP2 expression is upregulated by g...

Uncoupling Protein 2: A Key Player and a Potential Therapeutic Target in Vascular Diseases

Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is an inner mitochondrial membrane protein that belongs to the uncoupling protein family and plays an important role in lowering mitochondrial membrane potential and dissipating metabolic energy with prevention of oxidative stress accumulation. In the present article, we will review the evidence that UCP2, as a consequence of its roles within the mitochondria, repres...

Increase of uncoupling protein-2 expression in the ischemic rat heart

Introduction: Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been suggested to play an important role in the myocardial damage induced by ischemia – reperfusion. One element believed to be activated by ROS and to contribute to the reduction of ROS production, is the uncoupling protein-2 (UCP2). The objective of this investigation was to explore the effect of myocardial ischemia reperfusion on cardiac UC...

Uncoupling protein-2 regulates lifespan in mice.

The long-term effects of uncoupled mitochondrial respiration by uncoupling protein-2 (UCP2) in mammalian physiology remain controversial. Here we show that increased mitochondrial uncoupling activity of different tissues predicts longer lifespan of rats compared with mice. UCP2 reduces reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and oxidative stress throughout the aging process in different tissue...