title: Brown adipose tissue derived VEGF-A modulates cold tolerance and energy expenditure.
abstract: We recently reported that local overexpression of VEGF-A in white adipose tissue (WAT) protects against diet-induced obesity and metabolic dysfunction. The observation that VEGF-A induces a "brown adipose tissue (BAT)-like" phenotype in WAT prompted us to further explore the direct function of VEGF-A in BAT. We utilized a doxycycline (Dox)-inducible, brown adipocyte-specific VEGF-A transgenic overexpression model to assess direct effects of VEGF-A in BAT in vivo. We observed that BAT-specific VEGF-A expression increases vascularization and up-regulates expression of both UCP1 and PGC-1α in BAT. As a result, the transgenic mice show increased thermogenesis during chronic cold exposure. In diet-induced obese mice, introducing VEGF-A locally in BAT rescues capillary rarefaction, ameliorates brown adipocyte dysfunction, and improves deleterious effects on glucose and lipid metabolism caused by a high-fat diet challenge. These results demonstrate a direct positive role of VEGF-A in the activation and expansion of BAT.
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Kusminski
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Luby-Phelps
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Spurgin
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Yu A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Qiong A
authors.initials: QA
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: William L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.affiliation: Touchstone Diabetes Center, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA ; Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Philipp E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Scherer
keywords: BAT; BAT, brown adipose tissue; Cold tolerance; Dox, doxycycline; Energy expenditure; HFD, high-fat diet; HIF1, hypoxia-induced factor1; OCR, oxygen consumption rate; OGTT, oral glucose tolerance test; PGC-1α, PPARγ co-activator-1α; UCP1, uncoupling protein1; VEGF-A; WAT, white adipose tissue