The 1993 Merck Frosst Award. Acetyl-CoA carboxylase: an important regulator of fatty acid oxidation in the heart

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 1101-1109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary D. Lopaschuk ◽  
Jim Gamble

It has long been known that most of the energy production in the heart is derived from the oxidation of fatty acids. The other important sources of energy are the oxidation of carbohydrates and, to a lesser extent, ATP production from glycolysis. The contribution of these pathways to overall ATP production can vary dramatically, depending to a large extent on the carbon substrate profile delivered to the heart, as well as the presence or absence of underlying pathology within the myocardium. Despite extensive research devoted to the study of the individual pathways of energy substrate metabolism, relatively few studies have examined the integrated regulation between carbohydrate and fatty acid oxidation in the heart. While the mechanisms by which fatty acids inhibit carbohydrate oxidation (i.e., the Randle cycle) have been characterized, much less is known about how carbohydrates regulate fatty acid oxidation in the heart. It is clear that an increase in intramitochondrial acetyl-CoA derived from carbohydrate oxidation (via the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex) can downregulate β-oxidation of fatty acids, but it is not clear how fatty acid acyl group entry into the mitochondria is downregulated when carbohydrate oxidation increases. Recent interest in our laboratory has focused on the involvement of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) in this process. While it has been known for some time that malonyl-CoA does exist in heart tissue, and that it is a potent inhibitor of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT 1), it has only recently been demonstrated that an isoenzyme of ACC exists in the heart that is a potential source of malonyl-CoA. These findings led to the hypothesis that ACC may be an important regulator of myocardial fatty acid oxidation. We have recently provided evidence that heart ACC, via the production of malonyl-CoA, can regulate fatty acid oxidation. We believe that ACC represents a key enzyme in a feedback loop that decreases acyl-CoA transport into the mitochondria when carbohydrate oxidation rates are increased. It is possible that ACC may represent a novel and potentially important site for pharmacological intervention in pathological situations characterized by abnormal fatty acid metabolism. This review provides a brief overview of the regulation of myocardial metabolism followed by our recent studies that support the hypothesis that ACC has an important role in regulating the balance between carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in the heart.Key words: fatty acids, glucose, malonyl-CoA, carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1, myocardial ischemia.

2006 ◽  
Vol 84 (11) ◽  
pp. 1215-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arzu Onay-Besikci ◽  
Nandakumar Sambandam

The concentration of fatty acids in the blood or perfusate is a major determinant of the extent of myocardial fatty acid oxidation. Increasing fatty acid supply in adult rat increases myocardial fatty acid oxidation. Plasma levels of fatty acids increase post-surgery in infants undergoing cardiac bypass operation to correct congenital heart defects. How a newborn heart responds to increased fatty acid supply remains to be determined. In this study, we examined whether the tissue levels of malonyl CoA decrease to relieve the inhibition on carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT) I when the myocardium is exposed to higher concentrations of long-chain fatty acids in newborn rabbit heart. We then tested the contribution of the enzymes that regulate tissue levels of malonyl CoA, acetyl CoA carboxylase (ACC), and malonyl CoA decarboxylase (MCD). Our results showed that increasing fatty acid supply from 0.4 mmol/L (physiological) to 1.2 mmol/L (pathological) resulted in an increase in cardiac fatty acid oxidation rates and this was accompanied by a decrease in tissue malonyl CoA levels. The decrease in malonyl CoA was not related to any alterations in total and phosphorylated acetyl CoA carboxylase protein or the activities of acetyl CoA carboxylase and malonyl CoA decarboxylase. Our results suggest that the regulatory role of malonyl CoA remained when the hearts were exposed to high levels of fatty acids.


1973 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. V. Anastasia ◽  
R. L. McCarl

This paper reports the determination of the ability of rat heart cells in culture to release [14C]palmitate from its triglyceride and to oxidize this fatty acid and free [14C]palmitate to 14CO2 when the cells are actively beating and when they stop beating after aging in culture. In addition, the levels of glucose, glycogen, and ATP were determined to relate the concentration of these metabolites with beating and with cessation of beating. When young rat heart cells in culture are actively beating, they oxidize free fatty acids at a rate parallel with cellular ATP production. Both fatty acid oxidation and ATP production remain constant while the cells continue to beat. Furthermore, glucose is removed from the growth medium by the cells and stored as glycogen. When cultured cells stop beating, a decrease is seen in their ability to oxidize free fatty acids and to release them from their corresponding triglycerides. Concomitant with decreased fatty acid oxidation is a decrease in cellular levels of ATP until beating ceases. Midway between initiation of cultures and cessation of beating the cells begin to mobilize the stored glycogen. When the growth medium is supplemented with cortisol acetate and given to cultures which have ceased to beat, reinitiation of beating occurs. Furthermore, all decreases previously observed in ATP levels, fatty acid oxidation, and esterase activity are restored.


2005 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 1221-1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. Rubink ◽  
W. W. Winder

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) has previously been demonstrated to phosphorylate and inactivate skeletal muscle acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), the enzyme responsible for synthesis of malonyl-CoA, an inhibitor of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 and fatty acid oxidation. Contraction-induced activation of AMPK with subsequent phosphorylation/inactivation of ACC has been postulated to be responsible in part for the increase in fatty acid oxidation that occurs in muscle during exercise. These studies were designed to answer the question: Does phosphorylation of ACC by AMPK make palmitoyl-CoA a more effective inhibitor of ACC? Purified rat muscle ACC was subjected to phosphorylation by AMPK. Activity was determined on nonphosphorylated and phosphorylated ACC preparations at acetyl-CoA concentrations ranging from 2 to 500 μM and at palmitoyl-CoA concentrations ranging from 0 to 100 μM. Phosphorylation resulted in a significant decline in the substrate saturation curve at all palmitoyl-CoA concentrations. The inhibitor constant for palmitoyl-CoA inhibition of ACC was reduced from 1.7 ± 0.25 to 0.85 ± 0.13 μM as a consequence of phosphorylation. At 0.5 mM citrate, ACC activity was reduced to 13% of control values in response to the combination of phosphorylation and 10 μM palmitoyl-CoA. Skeletal muscle ACC is more potently inhibited by palmitoyl-CoA after having been phosphorylated by AMPK. This may contribute to low-muscle malonyl-CoA values and increasing fatty acid oxidation rates during long-term exercise when plasma fatty acid concentrations are elevated.


2014 ◽  
Vol 457 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marthe H. R. Ludtmann ◽  
Plamena R. Angelova ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Andrey Y. Abramov ◽  
Albena T. Dinkova-Kostova

Transcription factor Nrf2 affects fatty acid oxidation; the mitochondrial oxidation of long-chain (palmitic) and short-chain (hexanoic) saturated fatty acids is depressed in the absence of Nrf2 and accelerated when Nrf2 is constitutively activated, affecting ATP production and FADH2 utilization.


2001 ◽  
Vol 281 (4) ◽  
pp. H1561-H1567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Longnus ◽  
Richard B. Wambolt ◽  
Rick L. Barr ◽  
Gary D. Lopaschuk ◽  
Michael F. Allard

We tested the hypothesis that myocardial substrate supply regulates fatty acid oxidation independent of changes in acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and 5′-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activities. Fatty acid oxidation was measured in isolated working rat hearts exposed to different concentrations of exogenous long-chain (0.4 or 1.2 mM palmitate) or medium-chain (0.6 or 2.4 mM octanoate) fatty acids. Fatty acid oxidation was increased with increasing exogenous substrate concentration in both palmitate and octanoate groups. Malonyl-CoA content only rose as acetyl-CoA supply from octanoate oxidation increased. The increases in octanoate oxidation and malonyl-CoA content were independent of changes in ACC and AMPK activity, except that ACC activity increased with very high acetyl-CoA supply levels. Our data suggest that myocardial substrate supply is the primary mechanism responsible for alterations in fatty acid oxidation rates under nonstressful conditions and when substrates are present at physiological concentrations. More extreme variations in substrate supply lead to changes in fatty acid oxidation by the additional involvement of intracellular regulatory pathways.


2000 ◽  
Vol 279 (4) ◽  
pp. H1490-H1501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary W. Goodwin ◽  
Heinrich Taegtmeyer ◽  

We postulate that metabolic conditions that develop systemically during exercise (high blood lactate and high nonesterified fatty acids) are favorable for energy homeostasis of the heart during contractile stimulation. We used working rat hearts perfused at physiological workload and levels of the major energy substrates and compared the metabolic and contractile responses to an acute low-to-high work transition under resting versus exercising systemic metabolic conditions (low vs. high lactate and nonesterified fatty acids in the perfusate). Glycogen preservation, resulting from better maintenance of high-energy phosphates, was a consequence of improved energy homeostasis with high fat and lactate. We explained the result by tighter coupling between workload and total β-oxidation. Total fatty acid oxidation with high fat and lactate reflected increased availability of exogenous and endogenous fats for respiration, as evidenced by increased long-chain fatty acyl-CoA esters (LCFA-CoAs) and by an increased contribution of triglycerides to total β-oxidation. Triglyceride turnover (synthesis and degradation) also appeared to increase. Elevated LCFA-CoAs caused high total β-oxidation despite increased malonyl-CoA. The resulting bottleneck at mitochondrial uptake of LCFA-CoAs stimulated triglyceride synthesis. Our results suggest the following. First, both malonyl-CoA and LCFA-CoAs determine total fatty acid oxidation in heart. Second, concomitant stimulation of peripheral glycolysis and lipolysis should improve cardiac energy homeostasis during exercise. We speculate that high lactate contributes to the salutary effect by bypassing the glycolytic block imposed by fatty acids, acting as an anaplerotic substrate necessary for high tricarbocylic acid cycle flux from fatty acid-derived acetyl-CoA.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (2) ◽  
pp. H954-H960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufang Zhou ◽  
Hazel Huang ◽  
Celvie L. Yuan ◽  
Wendy Keung ◽  
Gary D. Lopaschuk ◽  
...  

Inhibition of myocardial fatty acid oxidation can improve left ventricular (LV) mechanical efficiency by increasing LV power for a given rate of myocardial energy expenditure. This phenomenon has not been assessed at high workloads in nonischemic myocardium; therefore, we subjected in vivo pig hearts to a high workload for 5 min and assessed whether blocking mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation with the carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I inhibitor oxfenicine would improve LV mechanical efficiency. In addition, the cardiac content of malonyl-CoA (an endogenous inhibitor of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I) and activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (which synthesizes malonyl-CoA) were assessed. Increased workload was induced by aortic constriction and dobutamine infusion, and LV efficiency was calculated from the LV pressure-volume loop and LV energy expenditure. In untreated pigs, the increase in LV power resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in fatty acid oxidation and cardiac malonyl-CoA content but did not affect the activation state of acetyl-CoA carboxylase. The activation state of the acetyl-CoA carboxylase inhibitory kinase AMP-activated protein kinase decreased by 40% with increased cardiac workload. Pretreatment with oxfenicine inhibited fatty acid oxidation by 75% and had no effect on cardiac energy expenditure but significantly increased LV power and LV efficiency (37 ± 5% vs. 26 ± 5%, P < 0.05) at high workload. In conclusion, 1) myocardial fatty acid oxidation increases with a short-term increase in cardiac workload, despite an increase in malonyl-CoA concentration, and 2) inhibition of fatty acid oxidation improves LV mechanical efficiency by increasing LV power without affecting cardiac energy expenditure.


2018 ◽  
Vol 315 (4) ◽  
pp. E496-E510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tongxin Wang ◽  
Weilei Yao ◽  
Ji Li ◽  
Qiongyu He ◽  
Yafei Shao ◽  
...  

Hepatic metabolic syndrome is associated with inflammation, as inflammation stimulates the reprogramming of nutrient metabolism and hepatic mitochondria-generated acetyl-CoA, but how acetyl-CoA affects the reprogramming of nutrient metabolism, especially glucose and fatty acids, in the condition of inflammation is still unclear. Here, we used an acute inflammation model in which pigs were injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and found that hepatic glycolysis and fatty acid oxidation are both promoted. Acetyl-proteome profiling of LPS-infected pigs liver showed that inflammatory stress exacerbates the acetylation of mitochondrial proteins. Both mitochondrial glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase 2 (GOT2) and malate dehydrogenase 2 (MDH2) were acetylated, and the malate-aspartate shuttle (MAS) activity was stimulated to maintain glycolysis. With the use of 13C-carbon tracing in vitro, acetyl-CoA was found to be mainly supplied by lipid-derived fatty acid oxidation rather than glucose-derived pyruvate oxidative decarboxylation, while glucose was mainly used for lactate production in response to inflammatory stress. The results of the mitochondrial experiment showed that acetyl-CoA directly increases MDH2 and, in turn, the GOT2 acetylation level affects MAS activity. Treatment with palmitate in primary hepatocytes from LPS-injected pigs increased the hepatic production of acetyl-CoA, pyruvate, and lactate; MAS activity; and hepatic MDH2 and GOT2 hyperacetylation, while the deficiency of long-chain acetyl-CoA dehydrogenase resulted in the stabilization of these parameters. These observations suggest that acetyl-CoA produced by fatty acid oxidation promotes MAS activity and glycolysis via nonenzymatic acetylation during the inflammatory stress response.


2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
K. R. Dunning ◽  
K. Cashman ◽  
R. J. Norman ◽  
R. L. Robker

Oocyte lipid composition and developmental competence are influenced by dietary fat yet whether lipids are metabolised by the oocyte or essential for subsequent embryo development is largely unexplored. Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) is largely overlooked as an energy source for the oocyte, despite generating several-fold more energy than glucose oxidation. FAO requires the rate-limiting enzyme carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (Cpt1) and the metabolite Carnitine to shuttle fatty acids into mitochondria for energy production. Analysis of Cpt1 mRNA during oocyte maturation showed that Cpt1 expression was hormonally induced (p<0.05) in the cumulus oocyte complex (COC), peaking at 10h following ovulatory hCG treatment. In contrast, Cpt1 was not hormonally regulated in granulosa cells (p>0.05). To investigate the role of Cpt1-mediated FAO during oocyte maturation we measured FAO in oocytes in the presence and absence of Carnitine and inhibited FAO to determine its importance for oocyte developmental competence. Levels of FAO in COCs were assessed as metabolism of the fatty acid 3H-palmitate. During oocyte maturation there was a 2.1-fold increase (p<0.0001) in FAO compared to immature COCs. Carnitine supplementation led to a further 3.7-fold increase (p<0.001), while inhibition of Cpt1 with Etomoxir resulted in a 6.5-fold decrease (p<0.0002) in FAO during oocyte maturation. FAO inhibition had no effect on cumulus expansion. However inhibition of FAO during oocyte maturation followed by IVF and embryo culture in the absence of inhibitor, resulted in significantly decreased numbers of embryos developing ‘on time' (p<0.002). This is the first identification of hormonal induction of Cpt1 and Cpt1 mediated FAO in the COC during oocyte maturation. Further, the results demonstrate that oxidation of fatty acids by the oocyte is essential for oocyte developmental competence and can be modulated by Carnitine. These findings provide a potential mechanism by which dietary fat, obesity or metabolic disorders including CPT deficiency lead to infertility.


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