title: Curcumin promotes browning of white adipose tissue in a norepinephrine-dependent way.
abstract: Brown adipose tissue converts energy from food into heat via the mitochondrial uncoupling protein UCP1, defending against cold. In some conditions, inducible 'brown-like' adipocytes, also known as beige adipocytes, can develop within white adipose tissue (WAT). These beige adipocytes have characteristics similar to classical brown adipocytes and thus can burn lipids to produce heat. In the current study, we demonstrated that curcumin (50 or 100 mg/kg/day) decreased bodyweight and fat mass without affecting food intake in mice. We further demonstrated that curcumin improves cold tolerance in mice. This effect was possibly mediated by the emergence of beige adipocytes and the increase of thermogenic gene expression and mitochondrial biogenesis in inguinal WAT. In addition, curcumin promotes β3AR gene expression in inguinal WAT and elevates the levels of plasma norepinephrine, a hormone that can induce WAT browning. Taken together, our data suggest that curcumin can potentially prevent obesity by inducing browning of inguinal WAT via the norepinephrine-β3AR pathway.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiuchao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Zichen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Chengming
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Collaborative Innovation Center for Brain Science, School of Basic Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Banjun
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China; Department of Pharmacology, Xi'an Medical University, Xi'an 710021, PR China.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Yinghao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Xijing Hospital, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China. Electronic address: leixiaoy@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoying
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cancer Biology, Department of Pharmacogenomics, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, PR China. Electronic address: luzfliuq@fmmu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zifan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu
mesh_terms: D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003474:Curcumin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000502:physiology*; D022702:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-3 / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D022702:Receptors, Adrenergic, beta-3; D003474:Curcumin; D009638:Norepinephrine
keywords: Curcumin; Plasma norepinephrine; Thermogenesis; Weight loss; White adipose tissue browning