Maternal brown fat metabolism returns to control level by four weeks postweaning in rats

The adaptation of maternal energy metabolism to lactation and its underlying mechanisms

Maternal energy metabolism undergoes a singular adaptation during lactation that allows for the caloric enrichment of milk. Changes in the mammary gland, changes in the white adipose tissue, brown adipose tissue, liver, skeletal muscles and endocrine pancreas are pivotal for this adaptation. The present review details the landmark studies describing the enzymatic modulation and the endocrine signals behind these metabolic changes. We will also update this perspective with data from recent studies showing transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms that mediate the adaptation of the maternal metabolism to lactation. The present text will also bring experimental and observational data that describe the long-term consequences that short periods of lactation impose to maternal metabolism.

Angiogenesis in adipose tissue and obesity

While most tissues exhibit their greatest growth during development, adipose tissue is capable of additional massive expansion in adults. Adipose tissue expandability is advantageous when temporarily storing fuel for use during fasting, but becomes pathological upon continuous food intake, leading to obesity and its many comorbidities. The dense vasculature of adipose tissue provides necessary oxygen and nutrients, and supports delivery of fuel to and from adipocytes under fed or fasting conditions. Moreover, the vasculature of adipose tissue comprises a major niche for multipotent progenitor cells, which give rise to new adipocytes and are necessary for tissue repair. Given the multiple, pivotal roles of the adipose tissue vasculature, impairments in angiogenic capacity may underlie obesity-associated diseases such as diabetes and cardiometabolic disease. Exciting new studies on the single-cell and single-nuclei composition of adipose tissues in mouse and humans are providing new insights into mechanisms of adipose tissue angiogenesis. Moreover, new modes of intercellular communication involving micro vesicle and exosome transfer of proteins, nucleic acids and organelles are also being recognized to play key roles. This review focuses on new insights on the cellular and signaling mechanisms underlying adipose tissue angiogenesis, and on their impact on obesity and its pathophysiological consequences.

Maternal treatment with oleoyl-estrone induces resistance to lipid accrual in their descendants

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether treatment of rat dams with oleoyl-estrone (OE) has an effect on the offspring's long-term response to diet restriction during lactation.

METHODS AND PROCEDURES

Control, OE-treated, and diet-restricted dams were treated up to day 15 of lactation. Changes in food intake and body weight were recorded for dams and their pups. After weaning, pups received a 4-week standard diet followed by a 4-week period of high-fat diet. Lipid, protein, and energy content of pups plus energy intake and efficiency. Serum metabolites (glucose, urea, and cholesterol) and serum hormones (adiponectin, leptin, insulin, and sexual hormones).

RESULTS

Neither pups from dams in the OE-treated nor in the diet-restricted group showed significant changes in weight, though these two groups ingested 79% of food ingested by controls. At weaning, the pups from OE-treated rats were smaller than those of the control or diet-restricted groups. These pups maintained the differences in size and lipid content during the 4-week standard-diet period, whereas pups from diet-restricted dams showed a sharp decrease in their lipid content. During the 4 weeks of high-fat diet, the male offspring from OE-treated dams increased the difference in lipid content in relation to the pups from control dams whereas in females the differences decreased. Female offspring from diet-restricted dams showed the most marked changes in metabolite and hormone levels in relation to controls.

DISCUSSION

Treatment of lactating dams with OE programs the metabolic response of their offspring to resist the challenge of a high-fat diet that would lead to obesity in adulthood.

Oleoyl-Estrone Treatment to Late Pregnant and Mid-Lactating Rats Affects the Expression of Lipid Metabolism Genes

The purpose of this study was to determine whether OE treatment affects the expression of genes related to lipid metabolism under two physiological conditions: late pregnancy and mid-lactation, both characterized by lipid mobilization. Samples of periovarian and retroperitoneal adipose tissue from 21-day pregnant or 15-day lactating dams were used. The expression of LPL, FATP1, FABP4, HSL, ACC1, FAS, PEPCK, GLUT4, PDK4, SREBP1c, adiponutrin and leptin, were compared with their expression in virgin rats. In pregnant rats, FABP4, HSL, PEPCK and PDK4 were over expressed in the periovarian site compared to virgin rats, whereas adiponutrin, FAS, GLUT4 and SREBP1c were underexpressed; the retroperitoneal fat depot showed a similar pattern but ACC1 and leptin were also underexpressed. OE treatment caused a generalized decrease in gene expression in both adipose depots. In lactating dams, the gene expression profile at the periovarian depot was similar to that observed in pregnant rats. OE treatment mimicked the trend observed in pregnant rats, although the intensity of the gene expression changes was lower. After OE treatment, the retroperitoneal adipose depot showed a completely different pattern since the values were close to those of virgin rats. These results corroborate that OE effects in adipose tissue, lowering lipids and depressing their metabolism, already described under other physiological situations, can be also found in late pregnancy and lactation.

Brown adipose tissue: function and physiological significance

The function of brown adipose tissue is to transfer energy from food into heat; physiologically, both the heat produced and the resulting decrease in metabolic efficiency can be of significance. Both the acute activity of the tissue, i.e., the heat production, and the recruitment process in the tissue (that results in a higher thermogenic capacity) are under the control of norepinephrine released from sympathetic nerves. In thermoregulatory thermogenesis, brown adipose tissue is essential for classical nonshivering thermogenesis (this phenomenon does not exist in the absence of functional brown adipose tissue), as well as for the cold acclimation-recruited norepinephrine-induced thermogenesis. Heat production from brown adipose tissue is activated whenever the organism is in need of extra heat, e.g., postnatally, during entry into a febrile state, and during arousal from hibernation, and the rate of thermogenesis is centrally controlled via a pathway initiated in the hypothalamus. Feeding as such also results in activation of brown adipose tissue; a series of diets, apparently all characterized by being low in protein, result in a leptin-dependent recruitment of the tissue; this metaboloregulatory thermogenesis is also under hypothalamic control. When the tissue is active, high amounts of lipids and glucose are combusted in the tissue. The development of brown adipose tissue with its characteristic protein, uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1), was probably determinative for the evolutionary success of mammals, as its thermogenesis enhances neonatal survival and allows for active life even in cold surroundings.

Regulation of expression of the lipoprotein lipase gene in brown adipose tissue

The regulation of lipoprotein lipase gene expression in brown adipose tissue was studied. Rats were preacclimated to 21 degrees C. Exposure to cold (4 degrees C) resulted in a rapid increase in the level of lipoprotein lipase mRNA in the tissue. The level peaked (expressed per microgram total RNA) after approximately 8 h and then slowly declined. The increased lipoprotein lipase mRNA level was not due to an increased stability of the mRNA, but, in a transition event from a high to a low expression of the lipoprotein lipase gene, a transcription-dependent process was recruited that accelerated the breakdown of lipoprotein lipase mRNA. Norepinephrine injections increased lipoprotein lipase mRNA levels in the tissue; this effect was mediated via a beta-adrenergic receptor. The effect of cold could be mimicked by norepinephrine injections, and these two effects were not additive, indicating that the cold effect was mediated by norepinephrine. The lipoprotein lipase mRNA level was also increased by insulin injections (into fasted animals); thus an increase in lipoprotein lipase gene expression in brown adipose tissue may be induced via two different stimuli, which, intracellularly, would be mediated via different signaling systems. In all investigated conditions, the changes in lipoprotein lipase mRNA levels observed here were parallelled by alterations in lipoprotein lipase activity reported earlier from this laboratory. It was therefore concluded that, under the conditions studied, lipoprotein lipase activity in brown adipose tissue was primarily regulated at the transcriptional level.