BACKGROUND Currently, there are no specific therapies available to treat cardiac dysfunction caused by sepsis and other chronic inflammatory conditions. Activation of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an early event in Gram-negative bacterial sepsis, triggering a robust inflammatory response and changes in metabolism. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactiv...

Skeletal muscle tissue shows an extraordinary cellular plasticity, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are still poorly understood. Here, we use a combination of experimental and computational approaches to unravel the complex transcriptional network of muscle cell plasticity centered on the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator 1α (PGC-1α), a regulatory nexus in enduranc...

The liver plays several critical roles in the metabolic adaptation to fasting. We have shown previously that the transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor coactivator-1 (PGC-1 ) is induced in fasted or diabetic liver and activates the entire program of gluconeogenesis. PGC-1 interacts with several nuclear receptors known to bind gluconeogenic promoters including the...

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1alpha (PGC-1alpha) promotes mitochondrial biogenesis and slow fiber formation in skeletal muscle. We hypothesized that activation of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway in response to increased muscle activity stimulated Pgc-1alpha gene transcription as part of the mechanisms for skeletal muscle adaptation. Here ...

Calorie restriction (CR) is a dietary intervention that extends lifespan and healthspan in a variety of organisms. CR improves mitochondrial energy production, fuel oxidation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging in skeletal muscle and other tissues, and these processes are thought to be critical to the benefits of CR. PGC-1α is a transcriptional coactivator that regulates mitochondrial...

ERR (oestrogen-related receptor)-α modulates the oestrogen signalling pathway and regulates genes participating in the physiological energy balance programme. Oestrogen and PGC-1α (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α), the master regulator of the energy homoeostasis programme, both regulate the expression of ERRα through the MHRE (multihormone response element) of the ER...

Increasing evidence implicates chronic energetic dysfunction in human cardiac arrhythmias. Mitochondrial impairment through Pgc-1β knockout is known to produce a murine arrhythmic phenotype. However, the cumulative effect of this with advancing age and its electrocardiographic basis have not been previously studied. Young (12-16 weeks) and aged (>52 weeks), wild type (WT) (n = 5 and 8) and Pgc-...

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor c coactivator 1 (PGC-1) proteins are key regulators of cellular bioenergetics and are accordingly expressed in tissues with a high energetic demand. For example, PGC-1a and PGC-1b control organ function of brown adipose tissue, heart, brain, liver and skeletal muscle. Surprisingly, despite their prominent role in the control of mitochondrial biogen...

Metabolic stress results in p53 activation, which can trigger cell-cycle arrest, ROS clearance, or apoptosis. However, what determines the p53-mediated cell fate decision upon metabolic stress is not very well understood. We show here that PGC-1α binds to p53 and modulates its transactivation function, resulting in preferential transactivation of proarrest and metabolic target genes. Thus gluco...

Despite intensive research, the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) remains poorly understood and the disease remains incurable. However, compelling evidence gathered over decades of research strongly support a role for mitochondrial dysfunction in PD pathogenesis. Related to this, PGC-1α, a key regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis, has recently been proposed to be an attractive target for in...