Identification of possible protein machinery involved in the thermogenic function of brown adipose tissue.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is believed to function by dissipating excess energy in mammals. It is very important to understand the energy metabolism held in BAT since disorder of its energy-dissipating function may cause obesity or lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension and diabetes. This function in BAT is mainly attributable to uncoupling protein (UCP), specifically expressed in its mitochondria. This protein consumes excess energy as heat by dissipating the H+ gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane that is utilized as a driving force for ATP synthesis. In this review article, in addition to providing a brief introduction to the functional properties of BAT and UCP, we also describe and discuss properties of cultured brown adipocytes and the results of our exploratory studies on protein components involved in the energy-dissipating function in BAT.
Institute for Genome Research, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan.
Kazuaki
K
Kajimoto
Naoshi
N
Yamazaki
Masatoshi
M
Kataoka
Hiroshi
H
Terada
Yasuo
Y
Shinohara
D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D053496:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors; D007473:Ion Channels; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D022722:Thermogenesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000071256:Uncoupling Protein 1
D015220:Calcium Channels; D002352:Carrier Proteins; C506926:ITPR1 protein, human; D053496:Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate Receptors; D007473:Ion Channels; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear; D000071256:Uncoupling Protein 1