Lipolysis in Brown Adipocytes Is Not Essential for Cold-Induced Thermogenesis in Mice

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.09.002
• Publication Date: 2017-10-11T14:00:16Z
• Authors: Hyunsu Shin; Yinyan Ma; Tatyana Chanturiya; Qiang Cao; Youlin Wang; Anil K.G. Kadegowda; Rachel Jackson; Dominic Rumore; Bingzhong Xue; Hang Shi; Oksana Gavrilova; Liqing Yu
• Keywords: Mice, Knockout; 0303 health sciences; Lipolysis; Adipocytes, White; Thermogenesis; Fasting; 1-Acylglycerol-3-Phosphate O-Acyltransferase; Body Temperature; Cold Temperature; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Adipocytes, Brown; Hypothermia, Induced; Animals; Humans; Energy Metabolism

Lipid droplet (LD) lipolysis in brown adipose tissue (BAT) is generally considered to be required for cold-induced nonshivering thermogenesis. Here, we show that mice lacking BAT Comparative Gene Identification-58 (CGI-58), a lipolytic activator essential for the stimulated LD lipolysis, have normal thermogenic capacity and are not cold sensitive. Relative to littermate controls, these animals had higher body temperatures when they were provided food during cold exposure. The increase in body temperature in the fed, cold-exposed knockout mice was associated with increased energy expenditure and with increased sympathetic innervation and browning of white adipose tissue (WAT). Mice lacking CGI-58 in both BAT and WAT were cold sensitive, but only in the fasted state. Thus, LD lipolysis in BAT is not essential for cold-induced nonshivering thermogenesis in vivo. Rather, CGI-58-dependent LD lipolysis in BAT regulates WAT thermogenesis, and our data uncover an essential role of WAT lipolysis in fueling thermogenesis during fasting.