Intracellular pH and bicarbonate activities in rabbit colon

Leptin and brain-adipose crosstalks

Interactions between the brain and distinct adipose depots have a key role in maintaining energy balance, thereby promoting survival in response to metabolic challenges such as cold exposure and starvation. Recently, there has been renewed interest in the specific central neuronal circuits that regulate adipose depots. Here, we review anatomical, genetic and pharmacological studies on the neural regulation of adipose function, including lipolysis, non-shivering thermogenesis, browning and leptin secretion. In particular, we emphasize the role of leptin-sensitive neurons and the sympathetic nervous system in modulating the activity of brown, white and beige adipose tissues. We provide an overview of advances in the understanding of the heterogeneity of the brain regulation of adipose tissues and offer a perspective on the challenges and paradoxes that the community is facing regarding the actions of leptin on this system.

Hypothalamic-autonomic control of energy homeostasis

Regulation of energy homeostasis is tightly controlled by the central nervous system (CNS). Several key areas such as the hypothalamus and brainstem receive and integrate signals conveying energy status from the periphery, such as leptin, thyroid hormones, and insulin, ultimately leading to modulation of food intake, energy expenditure (EE), and peripheral metabolism. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) plays a key role in the response to such signals, innervating peripheral metabolic tissues, including brown and white adipose tissue (BAT and WAT), liver, pancreas, and skeletal muscle. The ANS consists of two parts, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems (SNS and PSNS). The SNS regulates BAT thermogenesis and EE, controlled by central areas such as the preoptic area (POA) and the ventromedial, dorsomedial, and arcuate hypothalamic nuclei (VMH, DMH, and ARC). The SNS also regulates lipid metabolism in WAT, controlled by the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), VMH, and ARC. Control of hepatic glucose production and pancreatic insulin secretion also involves the LHA, VMH, and ARC as well as the dorsal vagal complex (DVC), via splanchnic sympathetic and the vagal parasympathetic nerves. Muscle glucose uptake is also controlled by the SNS via hypothalamic nuclei such as the VMH. There is recent evidence of novel pathways connecting the CNS and ANS. These include the hypothalamic AMP-activated protein kinase-SNS-BAT axis which has been demonstrated to be a key modulator of thermogenesis. In this review, we summarize current knowledge of the role of the ANS in the modulation of energy balance.

The brain and brown fat

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a specialized organ responsible for thermogenesis, a process required for maintaining body temperature. BAT is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which activates lipolysis and mitochondrial uncoupling in brown adipocytes. For many years, BAT was considered to be important only in small mammals and newborn humans, but recent data have shown that BAT is also functional in adult humans. On the basis of this evidence, extensive research has been focused on BAT function, where new molecules, such as irisin and bone morphogenetic proteins, particularly BMP7 and BMP8B, as well as novel central factors and new regulatory mechanisms, such as orexins and the canonical ventomedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) AMP- activated protein kinase (AMPK)-SNS-BAT axis, have been discovered and emerged as potential drug targets to combat obesity. In this review we provide an overview of the complex central regulation of BAT and how different neuronal cell populations co-ordinately work to maintain energy homeostasis.

Interrelationships among measures of autonomic activity and cardiovascular risk factors during orthostasis and the oral glucose tolerance test

Overstimulation of sympathetic nervous system activity is related to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk, but the role of parasympathetic activity in this association is not clear. This study evaluated sympathetic and parasympathetic function by spectral analysis of heart rate variability and plasma levels of norepinephrine (NE) epinephrine (EPI), dihydroxyphenylglycol (DHPG), dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) and dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC). It also examined the interrelationships among these parameters and established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk factors in 53 men (mean age 59.5 years). During supine rest, low-frequency power correlated positively with high-frequency power (r = 0.58, p < 0.001), plasma NE correlated with plasma DHPG (r = 0.41, p < 0.001) and plasma DOPA with DOPAC (r = 0.47, p < 0.001) but neither low- nor high-frequency power was correlated with plasma levels of any catechol. Among risk factors, plasma NE correlated with fasting insulin and mean arterial blood pressure, and urine NE correlated with body mass index. Both low- and high-frequency power correlated positively with insulin levels. Orthostasis decreased high-frequency power and increased low-frequency power and plasma NE levels. During the oral glucose tolerance test, both high- and low-frequency power increased, plasma NE levels were unchanged, and plasma EPI levels decreased [88.5 +/- 18 (SEM) versus 52.5 +/- 12 pM, p = 0.001]. The results suggest that orthostasis decreases and the oral glucose tolerance test increases parasympathetic outflows, whereas both stimuli increase sympathetic outflows. Among all atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk factors, hyperinsulinaemia showed the strongest association with autonomic nervous system activity, especially parasympathetic activity. Estimates of sympathetic responses obtained from power spectral analysis of heart rate variability agree poorly with those from plasma levels of catechols, possibly because of a parasympathetic contribution to low-frequency power and independence of sympathoneural outflows to the arm and heart.

Renal afferent denervation prevents hypertension in rats with chronic renal failure

Increased activity of the sympathetic nervous system has been described in chronic renal failure, but its role in the genesis and maintenance of hypertension associated with this condition has not been established. The kidney has an intense network of chemoreceptors and baroreceptors that send impulses to the brain. To what extent activation of these receptors by the scarred kidney or the uremic milieu may contribute to this model of hypertension is unknown. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of bilateral dorsal rhizotomy on the development of hypertension and neuroadrenergic activity in the anterior, lateral, and posterior hypothalamic nuclei, in the locus ceruleus, and in the nucleus tractus solitarius of Sprague-Dawley rats that underwent 5/6 nephrectomy or were sham operated. Neuroadrenergic activity was determined by calculating norepinephrine turnover rate after inhibition of norepinephrine synthesis with alpha-methyl-DL-p-tyrosine methyl ester hydrochloride. The endogenous norepinephrine concentration was significantly greater in the posterior and lateral hypothalamic nuclei and the locus ceruleus, but not in the nucleus tractus solitarius, and the anterior hypothalamic nuclei of uremic rats compared with control rats. In rats with chronic renal failure and sham rhizotomy, the turnover rate of norepinephrine in the posterior (15.3 +/- 1.61 nmol.g-1.h-1) and lateral hypothalamic nuclei (11.7 +/- 2.12 nmol.g-1.h-1) and in the locus ceruleus (26.6 +/- 2.42 nmol.g-1.h-1) was significantly faster (P < .01) than in rats with renal failure and dorsal rhizotomy (4.1 +/- 0.51, 4.7 +/- 0.77, and 5.1 +/- 1.13 nmol.g-1.h-1, respectively) or control animals with or without rhizotomy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Rabbit esophageal cells possess an Na+,H+ antiport

The development of esophagitis is the result of hydrogen ion diffusion into the mucosa leading to cellular acidification and necrosis. In these studies, whether esophageal cells possess transport system(s) that can respond to cytoplasmic acidification was assessed; specifically, whether esophageal cells possess an Na+,H+ antiport was determined. Nucleated esophageal cells were isolated from rabbit esophagi using a trypsin-digestion technique that yielded 5-8 x 10(6) cells per esophagus, of which 74% +/- 3% were basal and 26% +/- 8% were squamous. Trypan blue was excluded by 95% +/- 2% of the cells. Cytoplasmic pH (pHi) was measured using the pH-sensitive fluorescence dye 2',7'-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-5 (and -6) carboxyfluorescein acetoxymethyl ester. Cells were acidified to the desired pHi by suspension in solutions with varying external pH (pHo) in the presence of nigericin. When cells acidified to pHi 6.3 were suspended in a choline chloride solution (pHo 7.4), cytoplasmic pHi did not increase. In contrast, Nao+ caused a concentration-dependent increase in the rate of cytoplasmic alkalinization with saturation occurring above 50 mmol/L Nao+. The transporter behaved according to first-order Michaelis-Menten type kinetics with respect to external Na+ and had an apparent Km for Nao+ of 38.4 mmol/L. In contrast, the transporter behaved with greater than first-order kinetics with respect to external Na+ and had an apparent Km for Nao+ of 38.4 mmol/L. In contrast, the transporter behaved with greater than first-order kinetics with respect to cytoplasmic hydrogen ion concentration. Amiloride (10(-4) mol/L) caused a reversible inhibition of Na(+)-dependent alkalinization. Amiloride-sensitive cytoplasmic alkalinization was not observed when either cholineo or Ko+ was substituted for Nao+, while Lio+ resulted in alkalinization that was 60% +/- 8% of that seen with equimolar concentrations of Nao+. The basal pHi of cells suspended in a bicarbonate-free 130 mmol/L NaCl solution (pHo 7.4) averaged 7.42 +/- 0.03 (n = 10); amiloride (10(-4) mmol/L caused the basal pHi to decrease to 7.26 +/- 0.05 (n = 10; P less than 0.0025). When cells were suspended in a choline chloride (pHo 7.4) solution, pHi averaged 7.29 +/- 0.06 (n = 10) (P less than 0.0025 compared with Nao+). These studies indicate that nucleated esophageal cells obtained from rabbits possess an amiloride-sensitive Na+,H+ antiport that functions to regulate basal pHi and responds to intracellular acidification.

Role of Na+/H+ antiport in intracellular pH regulation by rabbit enterocytes

The steady-state intracellular pH (pHi) of isolated rabbit enterocytes was determined using 9-aminoacridine, a fluorescent weak base, and the null-point method with digitonin. When cells are incubated in a Na+-containing solution, the estimated value of pHi was in the range of 7.10-7.20, whereas it was 6.60-6.70 when cells were incubated in a Na+-free solution, indicating an important role of external Na+ in maintaining pHi at a slightly alkaline level. Pulse injection of Na+ into a Na+-free cell suspension induced a slowly developing alkalinization of pHi. The time course of the alkalinization was found to be dependent on the Na+ concentration. Li+ had the same effect as Na+, while K+ had a slight effect. Amiloride inhibited the effects of Na+ dose-dependently. These results indicate that the Na+/H+ antiport plays an important role in maintaining the pHi at a neutral or slightly alkaline level in the intact enterocytes.

Ventromedial hypothalamic stimulation accelerates norepinephrine turnover in brown adipose tissue of rats

To establish a functional link between the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) and brown adipose tissue (BAT), effects of electrical stimulation of the VMH and the lateral hypothalamus (LH) on norepinephrine (NE) turnover in the interscapular BAT were examined in rats. Stimulation of the VMH elicited about 3-fold increase in the rate of NE turnover in BAT, whereas stimulation of the LH had no appreciable effects. The effect of VMH stimulation was abolished after sympathetic ganglion blockade or by surgical sympathetic denervation of BAT. It was concluded that there is a sympathetic nerve-mediated connection between the VMH and BAT, and that stimulation of the VMH induces metabolic activation and heat production in BAT through an increase in sympathetic nerve activity.

Potassium microclimate at the mucosal surface of the proximal and the distal colon of guinea pig

K+ concentrations were measured with K+ sensitive liquid ion exchanger microelectrodes in situ and in vitro in the mucus layer at the luminal cell surface of the proximal and the distal colon in guinea pig. In a first series of experiments K+ concentrations were increased in the luminal solution from 0 to 70 mmol X l-1; the serosal K+ concentrations were kept in vitro at 5.4 mmol X l-1. In the proximal colon mean K+ concentration in the microclimate was in vitro 7.9 +/- 3.5 mmol X l-1, and independent from mucosal concentrations. In the distal colon in vitro, and in situ in the proximal as well as in the distal colon, K+ concentrations in the microclimate were increased slightly when K+ concentrations were elevated in the luminal solution up to 70 mmol X l-1. In a second series of in vitro studies K+ concentrations were also altered in the serosal fluid. In the proximal and in the distal colon K+ concentrations increased linearly with elevated K+ concentrations in the serosal solutions. A temporarily interrupted mucosal blood flow resulted in a significant increase in the K+ concentration in the microclimate. A paracellular shunt pathway and a high preepithelial diffusion barrier for K+ would explain the observed K+ concentrations in the microclimate at the luminal cell surface.

Effect of glucose and fat feeding on norepinephrine turnover in rats

The norepinephrine turnover in organs of glucose-fed and fat-fed rats were compared to those of starved rats. Rats fed only glucose had higher rates of norepinephrine turnover than starved rats in heart, pancreas, kidney, liver, and lung. The effect of glucose-feeding on norepinephrine turnover was most pronounced in heart (+197%) and pancreas (+120%), which were examined in the fat feeding study. Rats fed only fat showed the same suppression of insulin levels as fasting rats, and a greater reduction in plasma glucose levels. However, their norepinephrine turnover in heart (+182%) and pancreas (+173%) was similar to that of glucose-fed rats. Thus glucose and fat increase norepinephrine turnover in the absence of any other nutrients. If these nutrients increase norepinephrine turnover via the same intermediate signal, it cannot be insulin or increased glucose metabolism.

Reduced noradrenaline turnover in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

To clarify whether activity of the sympathetic nervous system is decreased in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, noradrenaline turnover, which is a reliable indicator of sympathetic nervous system activity, was measured in the interscapular brown adipose tissue, heart and pancreas of streptozotocin diabetic rats. Results from studies using inhibition of noradrenaline biosynthesis with alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine demonstrated significant reductions (p less than 0.05-0.001) in sympathetic nervous system activity in the interscapular brown adipose tissue, heart and pancreas of streptozotocin (65 mg/kg) diabetic rats, compared with measurements in streptozotocin (35 mg/kg) diabetic and saline-control rats. The daily injections of neutral protamine Hagedorn insulin to streptozotocin (65 mg/kg) diabetic rats prevented the decrease of noradrenaline turnover in the interscapular brown adipose tissue and heart significantly (p less than 0.02), but this was less marked in pancreas, compared with non-treated streptozotocin (65 mg/kg) diabetic rats. Furthermore reduced noradrenaline turnover was also observed in the control rats which showed comparable changes in body weight to the rats injected with streptozotocin (65 mg/kg). These results suggest that poorly controlled streptozotocin diabetic rats may have reduced sympathetic nervous function, and that insulin therapy might prevent this.

Reduced norepinephrine turnover in brown adipose tissue of pre-obese mice treated with monosodium-L-glutamate

Norepinephrine (NE) turnover, an index of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity, was measured in interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT), heart and pancreas of 3-weeks-old pre-obese monosodium-L-glutamate (MSG) mice and at 6-weeks-old mildly obese MSG mice. In IBAT, rates of NE turnover were slower not only in 3-weeks-old MSG mice but also in older obese MSG mice than in their saline controls. In heart, rates of NE turnover were slower in 6-weeks-old mildly obese MSG mice, but not in pre-obese MSG mice. No significant difference in NE turnover in pancreas was observed at either age. The low NE turnover in IBAT of MSG-treated mice prior to the onset of gross obesity suggests that low SNS activity may be an initial contributor to their high energy efficiency and resultant obesity.