ReviewLipidomics of brown and white adipose tissue: Implications for energy metabolism
Section snippets
Impact of adipocytes' lipidomic profile on energy metabolism
The ability to store lipids in cells and tissues is a crucial characteristic of nearly all living species, from plants to mammals. Such ability serves to conserve energy for future use when energy sources become scarce. In order to prevent the effects of lipotoxicity, cells must be able to buffer and store excess lipids in an inert form known as ‘lipid droplets’ (LDs), also referred to as oil bodies or lipid bodies [1,2]. Cells efficiently convert lipids and free-fatty acids (FFAs) into neutral
Differences between brown and white fat lipidome profile
The distinct lipidomes of white, beige, and brown adipocytes reflect their different organelle composition and cell functions. In a lipidomic analysis of primary white, beige and brown adipocytes, Schweizer and colleagues [18] reveal major differences between the thermogenic fat cells and the non-thermogenic white adipocytes. This study demonstrates that thermogenic adipocytes possess higher contents of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) fractions, with longer (C > 36)
Adipocyte lipidome and metabolic syndrome
Environmental factors such as a high-fat-high-sugar based diet and a sedentary lifestyle are key factors leading to metabolic maladaptation which ultimately yields obesity and type-2 diabetes, among other metabolic diseases and comorbidities [23,24]. Obesity-induced insulin resistance in glucose demanding tissues such as adipocytes and skeletal muscle, precedes fasting hyperglycemia and type-2 diabetes [25]. There are multiple mechanisms proposed to explain the onset of insulin resistance in
Lipidome dynamics in adaptive thermogenesis
Thermogenesis is the process of heat production in living organisms. It occurs in all homeothermic animals, and also in a few species of thermogenic plants [44,45]. In mammals, the thermogenic fat, namely BAT and beige fat, are the main tissues orchestrating the thermogenic adaptation in response to cold in order to maintain body temperature. Although UCP1-independent mechanisms of heat generation have been recently reported [46], the promotion of uncoupled mitochondrial respiration through
Conclusions and perspectives
The longstanding notion that lipids could merely serve as an energy supply for cells, or as substrates for composing cell membranes, has significantly evolved over the last few years. It has been noted that lipids play a critical role in metabolism by triggering their specific signaling pathways to regulate cellular function and processes such as differentiation, gene expression, apoptosis, mitochondrial bioenergetics, and substrate uptake, among others. Clearly, all the studies herein
Abbreviations
- 12-HEPE
12-Hydroxyeicosapentaenoic acid
- 12,13-diHOME
12,13-dihydroxy-9Z-octadecenoic
- AGPS
alkyl-glycerone phosphate synthase
- Akt
protein kinase B
- aSMase
acid sphingomyelinase
- cAMP
cyclic adenosine monophosphate
- CD36
cluster of differentiation 36
- COX
cyclooxygenase
- CRLS1
Cardiolipin Synthase 1
- Cyp450
cytochrome P450
- DAG
diacylglicerol
- DHA
docosahexaenoic acid
- Elovl3
ELOVL fatty acid elongase 3
- Elovl6
ELOVL fatty acid elongase 6
- EPA
eicosapentaenoic acid
- FAs
fatty acids
- Fatp1
fatty acid transport protein 1
- FFAs
free-fatty acids
Declaration of competing interest
Y.-H.T. is an inventor on an US patent application related to 12,13-diHOME.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R01DK077097 and R01DK102898 (to Y-H.T), P30DK036836 (to Joslin Diabetes Center's Diabetes Research Center, DRC) from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. L.O.L was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) grant 2017/08264-8, and by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) grant 427413/2018-4.
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