Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) mRNA is expressed in a panoply of tissues, including the brain, where it is widely distributed. In the mouse brain, it is expressed in the hypothalamus (suprachiasmatic, paraventricular, dorsomedial, ventromedial and arcuate nuclei), the thalamus (submedius nucleus) and the brain-stem (dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve). In the rat brain, it is also expressed i...

Increased oxidative stress in vascular cells plays a key role in the development of endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis. Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is an important regulator of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. This study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that, UCP2 functions as an inhibitor of the atherosclerotic process in endothelial cells. Adenovirus-media...

Mitochondria dysfunction has been reported in various kidney diseases but how it leads to kidney fibrosis and how this is regulated is unknown. Here we found that mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) was induced in kidney tubular epithelial cells after unilateral ureteral obstruction in mice and that mice with ablated UCP2 resisted obstruction-induced kidney fibrosis. We tested this associ...

Gemcitabine (GEM), a commonly used chemotherapeutic agent in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients, uses oxidative stress induction as a common effector pathway. However, GEM alone or in combination with oxaliplatin hardly renders any survival benefits to HCC patients. We have recently shown that this is part due to the overexpression of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) that in t...

General anaesthesia is associated with hypothermia, oxidative stress, and immune depression. Uncoupling Protein (UCP2) is a member of the mitochondrial carrier family present in many organs including the spleen, the lung and the brain. A role of UCP2 in the activation of the inflammatory/immune cells, in the secretion of hormones, and in the excitability of neurons by regulating the production ...

PURPOSE Cancer cell survival depends on adaptive mechanisms that include modulation of oxidative stress. One such mechanism may be via up-regulation of uncoupling protein-2 (UCP2), a mitochondrial inner membrane anion carrier recently found to provide cytoprotection in nontumor cells by acting as a sensor and negative regulator of reactive oxygen species production. We hypothesized that UCP2 ex...

UCP2 maps nearby the lod score peak of STR1-stroke QTL in the SHRSP rat strain. We explored the potential contribution of UCP2 to the high-salt diet (JD)-dependent increased stroke susceptibility of SHRSP. Male SHRSP, SHRSR, two reciprocal SHRSR/SHRSP-STR1/QTL stroke congenic lines received JD for 4 weeks to detect brain UCP2 gene/protein modulation as compared with regular diet (RD). Brains we...

The Warburg Effect is characterized by an irreversible injury to mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and an increased rate of aerobic glycolysis. In this study, we utilized a breast epithelial cell line lacking mitochondrial DNA (rho(0)) that exhibits the Warburg Effect associated with breast cancer. We developed a MitoExpress array for rapid analysis of all known nuclear genes enc...

INTRODUCTION Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) reduces production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by mitochondria. ROS overproduction is one of the major contributors to the pathogenesis of chronic diabetic complications, such as diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Thus, deleterious polymorphisms in the UCP2 gene are candidate risk factors for DKD. In this study, we investigated whether UCP2 -866G/A, Ala...

Introduction: ischemic preconditioning is one of the most important mechanisms, responsible for the increased brain resistance after stroke. One of the most important candidates to ischemia preconditioning is intermittent normobaric hyperoxia. In this study, the effect of intermittent normobaric hyperoxia on the expression of UCP2 was investigated in a stroke model. Methods: Rats were divid...