Activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) confers cardioprotection, while its mechanism remains elusive. We investigated the protective effect of PPARα activation against cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury in terms of the expression of uncoupling protein (UCP). Myocardial infarct size and UCP expression were measured in rats treated with WY-14643 20 mg/kg, a PPARα liga...

OBJECTIVE We studied the association between polymorphisms in the UCP genes and diabetes complications in patients with type 1 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We analyzed 227 patients with type 1 diabetes using PCR and subsequent cleavage by restriction endonucleases for the promoter variants A-3826G in the UCP1 gene, G-866A in the UCP2 gene, and C-55T in the UCP3 gene. RESULTS No eff...

BACKGROUND UCP3 is a mitochondrial membrane transporter that is postulated to uncouple oxidative phosphorylation from ATP synthesis producing heat instead of ATP. Human UCP3 is mainly expressed in skeletal muscle, which plays an important role in energy homeostasis and substrate oxidation. Therefore, UCP3 is a good candidate gene for obesity. MATERIALS AND METHODS We analyzed, among 734 subje...

We investigated the relative importance of overeating, thermogenesis, and uncoupling protein (UCP) expression in determining the severity of obesity in male Wistar rats fed a highly palatable diet. After 2 wk of feeding, body weight did not differ significantly from controls (248 +/- 4 vs. 229 +/- 3 g; P > 0.3), but rectal temperature, brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass, UCP3 expression in gastroc...

Uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are members of the mitochondrial anion carrier superfamily involved in the control of body temperature and energy balance regulation. They are currently proposed as therapeutic targets for treating obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS). We studied the gene expression regulation of UCP1, -2, and -3 in abdominal white adipose tissue (WAT) from control and MetS rats trea...

The biochemical functions of uncoupling proteins (UCPs) are discussed with the view of UCP1 as a paradigm. In contrast with UCP1, the heterologous expression of UCP3 in yeast is found to result primarily in extra-mitochondrial deposits and thus is unsuitable for studying UCP3 function. On expression in Escherichia coli inclusion bodies, UCPs extracted and incorporated into vesicles showed no H(...

The white adipose tissue (WAT) browning process has become one of the promising methods for managing obesity. During this process, WAT is transformed into brown-like tissue, which also known as beige tissue. can be activated by several inducers. One best candidates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) agonist. Nutmeg (Myristica fragrans Houtt) a natural PPARα/γ partial agonist t...

In a sheep model, we investigated diet effects on skeletal muscle mitochondria to look for fetal programming. During pregnancy, ewes were fed normally (N) or were 50% food restricted (L) during the last trimester, and lambs born to these ewes received a normal (N) or a high-fat diet (H) for the first 6 mo of life. We examined mitochondrial function in permeabilized muscle fibers from the lambs ...