BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis is a complex pathological condition caused by a number of mechanisms including the accelerated proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Diabetes is likely to be an important risk factor for atherosclerosis, as hyperglycemia induces vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and migration and may thus contribute to the formation of atherosclerotic l...

The Cdk7/cyclin H/ménage-à-trois 1 (MAT1) heterotrimer has proposed functions in transcription as the kinase component of basal transcription factor TFIIH and is activated in adult hearts by Gq-, calcineurin-, and biomechanical stress-dependent pathways for hypertrophic growth. Using cardiac-specific Cre, we have ablated MAT1 in myocardium. Despite reduced Cdk7 activity, MAT1-deficient hearts g...

Background/Objectives. Obesity and metabolic syndrome and associated adiposity are a systemic condition characterized by increased mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, and inhibition of antioxidant genes, HO-1, and EETs levels. We postulate that EETs attenuate adiposity by stimulating mitochondrial function and induction of HO-1 via activation of PGC-1α in adipose and hepatic tissue. Method...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) γ coactivator-1β (PGC-1β) is a transcriptional coactivator that induces hypertriglyceridemia in response to dietary fats through activating hepatic lipogenesis and lipoprotein secretion. The expression of PGC-1β is regulated by free fatty acids. Here we show that PGC-1β regulates plasma triglyceride metabolism through stimulating apolipoprotein ...

A persistent, low-grade inflammation accompanies many chronic diseases that are promoted by physical inactivity and improved by exercise. The beneficial effects of exercise are mediated in large part by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator (PGC) 1α, whereas its loss correlates with propagation of local and systemic inflammatory markers. We examined the influence of PGC-1α an...

There are reports that the β-adrenergic agonist clenbuterol induces a large increase in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) in skeletal muscle. This has led to the hypothesis that the increases in PGC-1α and mitochondrial biogenesis induced in muscle by endurance exercise are mediated by catecholamines. In the present study, we evaluated this possibility and fou...

The etiopathogenesis of sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) remains elusive although mitochondrial dysfunction has long been implicated. Recent evidence revealed reduced expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 α (PGC-1α) and downstream regulated nuclear encoded respiratory complex genes in affected brain tissue from PD patients. We sought to determine whether ...

The transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ coactivator (PGC)-1α plays a role in regulation of several metabolic pathways. By use of whole body PGC-1α knockout (KO) mice, we investigated the role of PGC-1α in fasting, acute exercise and exercise training-induced regulation of key proteins in gluconeogenesis and metabolism in the liver. In both wild-type (...

Central to mammalian mitochondrial biogenesis is the transcriptional master regulator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), and a network of DNA-binding proteins it coactivates. We explored the role of this pathway in muscle mitochondrial biogenesis in response to thermal acclimation in goldfish (Carassius auratus). We investigated the transcriptional resp...

Epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (EET) contributes to browning of white adipose stem cells to ameliorate obesity/diabetes and insulin resistance. In the current study, we show that EET altered preadipocyte function, enhanced peroxisome proliferation-activated receptor γ coactivator α (PGC-1α) expression, and increased mitochondrial function in the 3T3-L1 preadipocyte subjected to adipogenesis. Cells tr...