Brown adipose tissue (BAT) may have untapped therapeutic potential for treating metabolic disorders including type 2 diabetes and obesity because it not only dissipates energy through the expression of uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1), but it also plays a role in diet and nonshivering thermogenesis. BAT can emerge from white fat in a process called “browning,” but how this process occurs has remaine...

BACKGROUND Irisin is a new myokine secreted from the skeletal muscle and appears to affect the metabolism of adipose tissue. OBJECTIVES The mechanisms of cellular and molecular identification by which exercise training exerts its benefits remain unclear and are under investigation. METHODS We examined the effect of 8-week resistance exercise on plasma irisin levels and expression profiles o...

White adipose tissue expansion is associated with both hypertrophy and hyperplasia of adipocytes. Exercise training results in adipocyte hypotrophy by activating lipolysis, but it is poorly understood whether exercise regulates adipogenesis by altering adipogenic gene expression. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a single bout of swimming exercise on adipogenic gene expres...

Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) permits non-shivering thermogenesis (NST) when highly expressed in brown adipose tissue (BAT) mitochondria. Exclusive to placental mammals, BAT has commonly been regarded to be advantageous for thermoregulation in hibernators, small-bodied species, and the neonates of larger species. While numerous regulatory control motifs associated with UCP1 transcription have bee...

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays an important role in mammalian thermoregulation. The component of BAT mitochondria that permits this function is the inner membrane carrier protein uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). To the best of our knowledge, no studies have directly quantified UCP1 function in human BAT. Further, whether human and rodent BAT have comparable thermogenic function remains unknown. W...

Q (coenzyme Q or ubiquinone) is reported to be a cofactor obligatory for proton transport by UCPs (uncoupling proteins) in liposomes [Echtay, Winkler and Klingenberg (2000) Nature (London) 408, 609-613] and for increasing the binding of the activator retinoic acid to UCP1 [Tomás, Ledesma and Rial (2002) FEBS Lett. 526, 63-65]. In the present study, yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) mutant stra...

Brown adipose tissue thermogenesis at the cost of energy is not only important for the development of obesity, but also possesses great promise in anti-obesity treatment. Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression has been reported to be under control of the intracellular deacetylase SIRT1. Here, we investigated the effect and mechanism of inflammation and sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) activation on the induct...

Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) is a proton transporter/channel residing on the inner mitochondrial membrane and is involved in cellular heat production. Using immunohistochemistry, we investigated the expression of UCP1 and UCP3 in a series of 98 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with surgery. Expression patterns were correlated with histopathological variables, prognosis, a...

Prolonged cold exposure induces nonshivering thermogenesis primarily through beta-adrenergic- and cAMP-mediated regulation of uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) in brown adipose tissue. Molecular mechanisms involved in this induction of Ucp1 gene transcription consists of an intricate interplay between many nuclear receptors in coordination with coactivators/corepressors. Recently, it has been shown t...

The activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT), a site of nonshivering metabolic thermogenesis, has been reported to increase after interleukin (IL)-1beta/lipopolysaccharide injection. To clarify the possible contribution of BAT thermogenesis to whole body febrile response, we investigated febrile and thermogenic response to IL-1beta using mice deficient in uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1), a key molecu...