BACKGROUND Oxidative stress reduces total antioxidant status (TAOS) and is implicated in atherogenesis. Mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) negatively regulates reactive oxygen species generation. The UCP2 gene demonstrates a common functional promoter variant (-866G>A). METHODS AND RESULTS Amongst 465 diabetic men (age 61.7 +/- 13.3 years), an association of the UCP2-866A allele with s...

Endurance exercise training has been shown to decrease diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) in rats and humans. In rodents, most thermogenesis is thought to occur in brown adipose tissue via activation of the uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) and in skeletal muscle. Since the level of UCP1 mRNA in rat BAT was reported to be unmodified by exercise training, the newly described uncoupling proteins UCP2 and...

Chronic stimulation of the beta3-adrenergic receptor (AR) in obese animals resulted in a reduced adiposity associated with an increased expression of thermogenic uncoupling protein (UCP)1 in adipose tissues. In this study, the mRNA expression of newly cloned UCP isoforms (UCP2 and UCP3) were examined in obese yellow KK and C57BL control mice. UCP2 mRNA was found in all tissues examined, with hi...

Cancer cells have developed unique strategies to meet their high energy demand. Therefore, they have established a setting of Ca2+-triggered high mitochondrial activity. But mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake has to be strictly controlled to avoid mitochondrial Ca2+ overload that would cause apoptotic cell death. Methylation by protein arginine methyl transferase 1 (PRMT1) desensitizes the mitochondrial...

This study examined the beta-adrenergic regulation of uncoupling protein (UCP) 2 and UCP3 gene expression in porcine tissues. In vitro experiments examined changes in UCP2 and UCP3 gene expression in middle (MSQ) and outer (OSQ) subcutaneous adipose tissues from crossbred neutered male pigs. Incubation of tissue slices (24 h) with 0 to 1000 nM isoproterenol increased UCP2 and UCP3 mRNA abundanc...

OBJECTIVES We examined expression protein of AMPK/SIRT1/PGC1α/PhoxO3a/PPARα/UCP2 pathway in brain, kidneys and heart of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) vs stroke-resistant SHR (SHRSR) at different weeks of age, up to one year, in order to test the hypothesis that abnormalities within this pathway could associate with higher susceptibility of SHRSP to develop hypertension-rel...

RATIONALE Mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCPs) belong to a superfamily of mitochondrial anion transporters that uncouple ATP synthesis from oxidative phosphorylation and mitigates mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production. OBJECTIVE We assessed the hypothesis that UCP2 participates in central cardiovascular regulation by maintaining reactive oxygen species homeostasis in the rostra...

Mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is implicated in a wide range of pathophysiological processes, including immunity and diabetes mellitus, but its rapid degradation remains uncharacterized. Using pharmacological proteasome inhibitors, immunoprecipitation, dominant negative ubiquitin mutants, [corrected] cellular fractionation and siRNA techniques, we demonstrate the involvement of the u...