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Lactate coordinated with exercise promoted the browning of inguinal white adipose tissue

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Abstract

Lactate, an important exercise metabolite, induces white adipose tissue browning by upregulated uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression. However, the function of lactate during browning of inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) caused by exercise is unclear. Here, we considered lactate as an exercise supplement and investigated the effects of chronic pre-exercise lactate administration on energy metabolism and adipose tissue browning. C57B/L6 male mice (5 weeks of age) were divided into six groups. We evaluated the changes in blood lactate levels in each group of mice after the intervention. Energy expenditure was measured after the intervention immediately by indirect calorimetry. The marker protein levels and gene expressions were determined by western-blot and quantitative real-time PCR. HIIT significantly decreased adipose tissue weight while increased energy expenditure and the expression of UCP1 in iWAT; however, these regulations were inhibited in the DCA+HIIT group. Compared with the MICT and LAC groups, long-term lactate injection before MICT led to lower WAT weight to body weight ratios and higher energy expenditure in mice. Furthermore, the marker genes of browning in iWAT, such as Ucp1 and Pparγ, were significantly increased in the LAC+MICT group than in the other groups, and the expression of monocarboxylate transporter-1 (Mct1) mRNA was also significantly increased. Lactate was involved in exercise-mediated browning of iWAT, and its mechanism might be the increased of lactate transport through MCT1 or PPARγ upregulation induced by exercise. These findings suggest exogenous lactate may be a new exercise supplement to regulate metabolism.

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Data generated or analyzed during this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31871207).

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Author notes

  1. Xuefei Chen and Yanjun Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physical education (Main campus), Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China

    Xuefei Chen

  2. College of P.E. and Sports, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Xuefei Chen, Yanjun Li, Jingbo Zhang, Wenhua Huang, Jie Su & Jing Zhang

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Contributions

The authors declare that all data were generated in-house and that no paper mill was used. YL and XC performed the experiments, ran the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; JZ contributed to perform the experiments and write the manuscript; WH and JS participated in performing of the experiments; JZ participated in design of the experiments and draft of manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the final version of the manuscript and agree with the order of presentation of the authors.

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Correspondence to Jing Zhang.

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The authors declare there are no competing interests.

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All animal care and experimental protocols complied with the guidelines of the Ethics and Animal Welfare Committee of Beijing Normal University (Approval No. CLS-EAW-2015-002).

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Key Points

• Lactate produced by HIIT could induce the browning of iWAT in mice.

• MICT supplemented with lactate could promote iWAT browning and increase the energy metabolism.

• The promotive effect of lactate on browning in exercise was related to the activation of the PPARγ and MCT1 pathways.

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Chen, X., Li, Y., Zhang, J. et al. Lactate coordinated with exercise promoted the browning of inguinal white adipose tissue. J Physiol Biochem 80, 303–315 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13105-023-01004-9

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