Biology subjects

Vinnai, B. A.

Publications and source records attributed to Vinnai, B. A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Extracellular thiamine concentration influences thermogenic competency of differentiating neck area-derived human adipocytes

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy in the form of heat majorly via the mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). The activation of BAT, which is enriched in the neck area and contains brown and beige adipocytes in humans, was considered as a potential therapeutic target to treat obesity. Therefore, finding novel agents that can stimulate the differentiation and recruitment of brown or beige thermogenic adipocytes are important subjects for investigation. The current study investigated how the availability of extracellular thiamine (vitamin B1), an essential cofactor of mitochondrial enzyme complexes that catalyze key steps in the catabolism of nutrients, affects the expression of thermogenic marker genes and proteins and subsequent functional parameters during ex vivo adipocyte differentiation. Therefore, we differentiated primary human adipogenic progenitors that were cultivated from subcutaneous (SC) or deep neck (DN) adipose tissues in the presence of gradually increasing thiamine concentrations during their 14 day long differentiation program. Higher thiamine levels resulted in increased expression of thiamine transporter 1 and 2 both at mRNA and protein levels in human neck area-derived adipocytes. Gradually increasing concentrations of thiamine led to increased basal, cAMP-stimulated, and proton-leak respiration along with elevated mitochondrial biogenesis of the differentiated adipocytes. The extracellular thiamine availability during adipogenesis determined the expression levels of UCP1, PGC1a, CKMT2, and other browning-related genes and proteins in primary SC and DN-derived adipocytes in a concentration-dependent manner. Providing abundant amounts of thiamine further increased the thermogenic competency of the adipocytes. Our study raises the possibility of a novel strategy with long-term thiamine supplementation, which can enhance the thermogenic competency of differentiating neck area-derived adipocytes for preventing or combating obesity.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Human Abdominal Subcutaneous-Derived Active Beige Adipocytes Carrying FTO rs1421085 Obesity-Risk Alleles Exert Lower Thermogenic Capacity

White adipocytes store lipids, have a large lipid droplet and few mitochondria. Brown and beige adipocytes, which produce heat, are characterized by high expression of uncoupling protein (UCP) 1, multilocular lipid droplets, and large amounts of mitochondria. The rs1421085 T-to-C single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the human FTO gene interrupts a conserved motif for ARID5B repressor, resulting in adipocyte type shift from beige to white. We obtained abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue from donors carrying FTO rs1421085 TT (risk-free) or CC (obesity-risk) genotypes, isolated and differentiated their preadipocytes into beige adipocytes (driven by the PPAR{gamma} agonist rosiglitazone for 14 days), and activated them with dibutyryl-cAMP for 4 hours. Then, either the same culture conditions were applied for additional 14 days (active beige adipocytes) or it was replaced by a white differentiation medium (inactive beige adipocytes). White adipocytes were differentiated by their medium for 28 days. RNA-sequencing was performed to investigate the gene expression pattern of adipocytes carrying different FTO alleles and found that active beige adipocytes had higher brown adipocyte content and browning capacity compared to white or inactive beige ones when the cells were obtained from risk-free TT but not from obesity-risk CC genotype carriers. Active beige adipocytes carrying FTO CC had lower thermogenic gene (e.g., UCP1, PM20D1, CIDEA) expression and thermogenesis measured by proton leak respiration as compared to TT carriers. In addition, active beige adipocytes with CC alleles exerted lower expression of ASC1 neutral amino acid transporter (encoded by SLC7A10) and less consumption of Ala, Ser, Cys, and Gly as compared to risk-free carriers. We did not observe any influence of the FTO rs1421085 SNP on white and inactive beige adipocytes highlighting its exclusive and critical effect when adipocytes were activated for thermogenesis.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Availability of abundant thiamine determines efficiency of thermogenic activation in human neck area derived adipocytes

Brown/beige adipocytes express uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) that enables them to dissipate energy as heat. Systematic activation of this process can alleviate obesity. Human brown adipose tissues are interspersed in distinct anatomical regions including deep neck. We found that UCP1 enriched adipocytes differentiated from precursors of this depot highly expressed ThTr2 transporter of thiamine and consumed thiamine during thermogenic activation of these adipocytes by cAMP which mimics adrenergic stimulation. Inhibition of ThTr2 led to lower thiamine consumption with decreased proton leak respiration reflecting reduced uncoupling. In the absence of thiamine, cAMP-induced uncoupling was diminished but restored by thiamine addition reaching the highest levels at thiamine concentrations larger than present in human blood plasma. Thiamine is converted to thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) in cells; the addition of TPP to permeabilized adipocytes increased uncoupling fueled by TPP-dependent pyruvate dehydrogenase. ThTr2 inhibition also hampered cAMP-dependent induction of UCP1, PGC1a, and other browning marker genes, and thermogenic induction of these genes was potentiated by thiamine in a concentration dependent manner. Our study reveals the importance of amply supplied thiamine during thermogenic activation in human adipocytes which provides TPP for TPP-dependent enzymes not fully saturated with this cofactor and by potentiating the induction of thermogenic genes. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=179 SRC="FIGDIR/small/490662v3_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (45K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@f8b9a9org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1653d1corg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@18f3266org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@35f78d_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG HighlightsO_LIAbundant thiamine is required for efficient activation of UCP1 dependent thermogenesis in human deep neck derived adipocytes C_LIO_LIInhibition of thiamine transporters leads to decreased thermogenic response C_LIO_LIIn stimulated adipocytes, thiamine supply provides extra thiamine pyrophosphate for increasing pyruvate dehydrogenase activity to generate sufficient fuel of UCP1 dependent respiration C_LIO_LIAdrenergic stimulation of thermogenic gene expression is potentiated by thiamine in a concentration dependent manner C_LI

cell biology↗