J Biol Chem. 2022 Sep 02. pii: S0021-9258(22)00899-7. [Epub ahead of print] 102456
Haruya Takahashi,
Motohiro Tokura,
Satoko Kawarasaki,
Hiroyuki Nagai,
Mari Iwase,
Kento Nishitani,
Haruka Okaze,
Shinsuke Mohri,
Tetsuro Ito,
Takeshi Ara,
Huei-Fen Jheng,
Wataru Nomura,
Teruo Kawada,
Kazuo Inoue,
Tsuyoshi Goto.
Adipocyte browning is one of the potential strategies for the prevention of obesity-related metabolic syndromes, but it is a complex process. Although previous studies make it increasingly clear that several transcription factors and enzymes are essential to induce browning, it is unclear what dynamic and metabolic changes occur in induction of browning. Here, we analyzed the effect of a beta-adrenergic receptor agonist (CL316243, accelerator of browning) on metabolic change in mice adipose tissue and plasma using metabolome analysis and speculated that browning is regulated partly by inosine 5'-monophosphate (IMP) metabolism. To test this hypothesis, we investigated whether Ucp-1, a functional marker of browning, mRNA expression is influenced by IMP metabolism using immortalized adipocytes. Our study showed that mycophenolic acid (MPA), an IMP dehydrogenase inhibitor, increases the mRNA expression of Ucp-1 in immortalized adipocytes. Furthermore, we performed a single administration of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), a prodrug of MPA, to mice and demonstrated that MMF induces adipocyte browning and miniaturization of adipocyte size, leading to adipose tissue weight loss. These findings showed that IMP metabolism has a significant effect on adipocyte browning, suggesting that the regulator of IMP metabolism has the potential to prevent obesity.
Keywords: Metabolome analysis; adipocytes; browning; purine metabolism