Arotinolol is a weak partial agonist on β3-adrenergic receptors in brown adipocytes

2001 ◽  
Vol 79 (7) ◽  
pp. 585-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Zhao ◽  
Valeria Golozoubova ◽  
Barbara Cannon ◽  
Jan Nedergaard

Arotinolol, a clinically used α/β-adrenergic blocker, has been demonstrated to be an anti-obesity agent. The anti-obesity effect of arotinolol was suggested to be the result of direct activation of thermogenesis in brown-fat cells. We tested the ability of arotinolol to stimulate thermogenesis (oxygen consumption) in isolated brown-fat cells and in intact animals. Arotinolol stimulated thermogenesis in brown-fat cells isolated from mouse and hamster. A relatively low sensitivity to the β-adrenergic antagonist propranolol (pKB [Formula: see text] 6) indicated that arotinolol interacted with the β3-adrenergic receptor. On the β3-receptor, arotinolol was a very weak (EC50 [Formula: see text] 20 µM) and only partial ([Formula: see text]50 %) agonist, but arotinolol also demonstrated the properties of being a β3-receptor antagonist with a pKB of 5.7. In intact animals, only the antagonistic action of arotinolol could be observed. Because arotinolol is only a very weak and partial agonist on the β3-receptors, direct stimulation of thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue is unlikely to be sufficient to cause significant weight loss. It may be necessary to invoke additional pathways to explain the anti-obesity effects of chronic treatment with arotinolol.Key words: arotinolol, β3-adrenergic receptor, brown adipose tissue, thermogenesis, mouse, hamster, rat.

1981 ◽  
Vol 240 (4) ◽  
pp. E379-E383 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Senault ◽  
G. Cherqui ◽  
M. Cadot ◽  
R. Portet

Seven-week-old Long-Evans rats were acclimated to a constant temperature of either 28 degrees C (control group) or 5 degrees C (cold-acclimated group). Cold acclimation induced a 70% increase in the interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) relative mass, a 35% increase in DNA content, and a 44% decrease in triglyceride (TG) content, which resulted in a 51% decrease of the TG/DNA ratio. A procedure is described by which brown fat cells were isolated, with a yield of 21% from the IBAT of the control group and of 38% in the cold-acclimated group. In both groups, the brown fat cells accounted for 35-37% of the total cells in the tissue. Cold acclimation induced decreases in the mean fat cell diameter (about 20%), the mean fat cell TG content (50%), and the fat cell TG/DNA ratio (50%). The total number of IBAT fat cells was significantly increased in cold-acclimated rats. It is concluded that cold acclimation involves a hyperplasia of the IBAT, associated with a decrease of fat cell size without any alteration of the fat cell-to-nonfat cell ratio.


1998 ◽  
Vol 275 (5) ◽  
pp. R1674-R1682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Dicker ◽  
Jin Zhao ◽  
Barbara Cannon ◽  
Jan Nedergaard

To examine the significance of brown adipose tissue for the thermogenic response to glucagon, we injected glucagon intraperitoneally into rats (that have glucagon-sensitive brown fat cells) and into hamsters (that have glucagon-insensitive brown fat cells). Although a thermogenic response to glucagon injection was apparently observed in rats, this response was not augmented by cold acclimation and was not dose dependent. Similar observations were made in hamsters. The thermogenic response could be fully blocked by prior injection of the β-adrenergic blocker propranolol. Thus no direct thermogenic response to injected glucagon could be demonstrated, and the thermogenic response observed was fully due to vehicle injection. However, glucagon injection was able to unmask mitochondrial [3H]GDP binding. As expected, isolated brown fat cells from rats and mice responded thermogenically to glucagon but brown fat cells from hamsters were unresponsive. The EC50 of the rat brown fat cells was high (5 nM); these cells also responded to secretin, with an EC50 of 22 nM. It was concluded that, in contrast to earlier observations, no thermogenic response to injected glucagon could be observed; this may be related to differences in glucagon preparations. Brown fat cells from certain species are, however, glucagon sensitive. It is uncertain whether glucagon is the endogenous agonist for these receptors, but the presence of the glucagon-responsive receptor indicates alternative means to norepinephrine for stimulation of brown adipose tissue thermogenesis and, probably, of recruitment.


1990 ◽  
Vol 258 (2) ◽  
pp. R430-R435
Author(s):  
A. L. Kates ◽  
G. Zaror-Behrens ◽  
J. Himms-Hagen

Genetically obese, ob/ob, mice have an impaired capacity to increase the level of thyroxine 5'-deiodinase (T5'D) in their brown adipose tissue (BAT) when they are exposed to cold. Yet they are able to secrete norepinephrine (NE) from the nerves of their BAT in response to cold and are apparently refractory to this action of NE. The principal objective was to find out whether injected NE could increase T5'D in BAT of the ob/ob mouse. A secondary objective was to elucidate the nature of the adrenergic receptor(s) involved in this response in lean and ob/ob mice. Injection of NE increased T5'D in BAT of lean mice within 3 h. It also increased T5'D in BAT of ob/ob mice but to a lesser extent. Basal T5'D activity in BAT of ob/ob mice was greater than that seen in BAT of lean mice because of the greater size of the tissue. Neither isopropylnorepinephrine nor phenylephrine alone could increase T5'D activity, but a combination increased it almost as well as did NE, although to a lesser extent in ob/ob mice than in lean mice. Both a beta-adrenergic antagonist (propranolol) and an alpha 1-adrenergic antagonist (prazosin) could inhibit the effect of NE. The acute effect of NE on metabolic rate of intact mice also involves an action of both beta- and alpha 1-adrenergic receptors. The beta-adrenergic component appears to be defective in the ob/ob mouse.


1991 ◽  
Vol 277 (3) ◽  
pp. 625-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
J P Revelli ◽  
R Pescini ◽  
P Muzzin ◽  
J Seydoux ◽  
M G Fitzgerald ◽  
...  

The aim of the present work was to study the effect of hypothyroidism on the expression of the beta-adrenergic receptor (beta-AR) in interscapular brown adipose tissue and heart. The total density of plasma membrane beta-AR per tissue is decreased by 44% in hypothyroid rat interscapular brown adipose tissue and by 55% in hypothyroid rat heart compared with euthyroid controls. The effects of hypothyroidism on the density of both beta 1- and beta 2-AR subtypes were also determined in competition displacement experiments. The densities of beta 1- and beta 2-AR per tissue are decreased by 50% and 48% respectively in interscapular brown adipose tissue and by 52% and 54% in the heart. Northern blot analysis of poly(A)+ RNA from hypothyroid rat interscapular brown adipose tissue demonstrated that the levels of beta 1- and beta 2-AR mRNA per tissue are decreased by 73% and 58% respectively, whereas in hypothyroid heart, only the beta 1-AR mRNA is decreased, by 43%. The effect of hypothyroidism on the beta 1-AR mRNA is significantly more marked in the interscapular brown adipose tissue than in the heart. These results indicate that beta-AR mRNA levels are differentially regulated in rat interscapular brown adipose tissue and heart, and suggest that the decrease in beta-AR number in interscapular brown adipose tissue and heart of hypothyroid animals may in part be explained by a decreased steady-state level of beta-AR mRNA.


1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 465-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérard Mory ◽  
Myriam Gawer ◽  
Jean-Claude Kader

Chronic cold exposure of rats (9 days at 5°C) induces an alteration of the fatty acid composition of phospholipids in brown adipose tissue. The alteration is due to an increase of the unsaturation degree of these lipids. The phenomenon can be reproduced by 10−7 mole. h−1 administration of noradrenaline for 9 days in rats kept at 25°C. Thus, phospholipid alteration in brown fat of cold exposed rats is most probably a consequence of the increase of sympathetic tone which occurs in this tissue during exposure to cold.


1984 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. 933-940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart W. Mercer ◽  
Paul Trayhurn

Genetically obese (ob/ob) mice develop insulin resistance in brown adipose tissue during the fifth week of life. Prior to this, at 26 days of age, oh/oh mice show a substantial increase in GDP binding to brownadipose-tissue mitochondria during acute cold exposure. When insulin resistance in brown fat develops, by 35 days of age, the increase in GDP binding in response to cold is markedly reduced. Studies with 2-deoxyglucose suggest that insulin resistance in brown adipose tissue could impair thermogenic responsiveness during acute cold exposure by limiting the ability of the tissue to take up glucose.


1971 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 670-675 ◽  
Author(s):  
IRÉNE AHLABO ◽  
TUDOR BARNARD

During cytochemical studies of brown adipose tissue from rat, cytoplasmic organelles that apparently show peroxidative activity have been observed. The majority of the organelles have a diameter of 0.1-0.8 µ and a finely granular homogeneous matrix and are delimited by a single unit membrane. No sign of a "crystalloid" was seen. In order to demonstrate the peroxidative activity of the peroxisomal enzyme catalase in the organelles, brown adipose tissue was incubated in a medium containing 3,3'-diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride, after prefixation in 3% glutaraldehyde. The activity was blocked by 3-amino-l,2,4-triazole (an inhibitor of catalase) but not by KCN. Omission of exogenous hydrogen peroxide did not inhibit the reaction in the organelles. It is concluded that rat brown adipose tissue contains peroxisomes and, since the abundance of these organelles varies according to the physiologic activity of the tissue, peroxisomes may have a role in the thermogenic metabolism of brown fat.


1987 ◽  
Vol 252 (2) ◽  
pp. R402-R408 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Yoshida ◽  
J. S. Fisler ◽  
M. Fukushima ◽  
G. A. Bray ◽  
R. A. Schemmel

The effects of dietary fat content, lighting cycle, and feeding time on norepinephrine turnover in interscapular brown adipose tissue, heart, and pancreas, and on blood 3-hydroxybutyrate, serum glucose, insulin, and corticosterone have been studied in two strains of rats that differ in their susceptibility to dietary obesity. S 5B/Pl rats, which are resistant to dietary obesity, have a more rapid turnover of norepinephrine in interscapular brown adipose tissue and heart and a greater increase in the concentration of norepinephrine in brown fat when eating a high-fat diet than do Osborne-Mendel rats, which are sensitive to fat-induced obesity. Light cycle and feeding schedule are important modulators of sympathetic activity in heart and pancreas but not in brown fat. Rats of the resistant strain also have higher blood 3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations and lower insulin and corticosterone levels than do rats of the susceptible strain. A high-fat diet increases 3-hydroxybutyrate concentrations and reduces insulin levels in both strains. These studies show, in rats eating a high-fat diet, that differences in norepinephrine turnover, particularly in brown adipose tissue, may play an important role in whether dietary obesity develops and in the manifestations of resistance to this phenomenon observed in the S 5B/Pl rat.


1985 ◽  
Vol 248 (2) ◽  
pp. E230-E235
Author(s):  
R. J. Schimmel ◽  
L. McCarthy

Hamsters consuming a “cafeteria diet” had more brown adipose tissue than did chow-fed hamsters. The growth of the brown fat depots in cafeteria-fed hamsters was accompanied by increases in tissue protein and cytochrome oxidase. To assess the thermogenic capacity of brown fat mitochondria, the binding of GDP to isolated mitochondria was measured. Mitochondrial GDP binding was not affected by feeding the cafeteria diet for 4 wk, but more prolonged cafeteria feeding for 8 wk did, however, increase the binding of GDP to isolated mitochondria. The morphology of brown adipose tissue was altered during cafeteria feeding. The brown adipose tissue of cafeteria-fed hamsters had more large unilocular cells than did the brown adipose tissue of chow-fed hamsters. In addition, the average adipocyte diameter was greater in brown adipose tissue of cafeteria-fed hamsters. These data support the presence of a dietary regulation of brown adipose tissue growth in hamsters. The growth of brown adipose tissue in hamsters eating the cafeteria diet appears to result largely from proliferation of adipocytes, as evidenced by the increases in tissue protein and cytochrome oxidase during cafeteria feeding, but some hypertrophy of the adipocytes also occurs. A dietary regulation of brown fat thermogenic capacity is also apparent but this regulation is evident only after more prolonged periods of cafeteria feeding. Hamsters eating a cafeteria diet increase their caloric intake but have the same or greater body weight gain efficiency as do chow-fed animals. The absence of dietary stimulation of thermogenesis may underlie the similar efficiencies of weight gain in chow- and cafeteria-fed hamsters.


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