Role of malonyl-CoA in the hypothalamic control of food intake and energy expenditure

2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 1063-1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.D. Lane ◽  
Z. Hu ◽  
S.-H. Cha ◽  
Y. Dai ◽  
M. Wolfgang ◽  
...  

The brain plays an important role in the regulation of energy balance in higher animals. Global energy balance is monitored by sets of neurons in the hypothalamus that respond to peripheral hormonal and afferent neural signals that sense the energy status. Malonyl-CoA, an intermediate in the biosynthesis of fatty acids, appears to function in this hypothalamic energy-sensing system. The steady-state level of malonyl-CoA is determined by its rate of synthesis catalysed by ACC (acetyl-CoA carboxylase) relative to its rate of turnover catalysed by FAS (fatty acid synthase). Changes in the level of malonyl-CoA in the hypothalamus alter the expression/secretion of key hypothalamic orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides that regulate the feeding behaviour and energy expenditure. Inhibitors of FAS, administered i.c.v. (intracerebroventricularly) to lean or obese mice, cause a rapid rise in hypothalamic malonyl-CoA level, suppression of food intake, increased fatty acid oxidation in skeletal muscle and profound weight loss. Stereotactic delivery of a viral MCD (malonyl-CoA decarboxylase) expression vector into the ventral hypothalamus lowers malonyl-CoA levels and reverses the anorectic effect of the FAS inhibitors. Fasting decreases, whereas refeeding increases, hypothalamic malonyl-CoA and alters subsequent feeding behaviour accordingly. The level of malonyl-CoA in the hypothalamus appears to be under the control of 5′-AMP kinase, which phosphorylates and thereby inactivates ACC under conditions of energy surplus. Thus malonyl-CoA appears to link the energy-responsive fatty acid synthesis in the hypothalamus to feeding behaviour and peripheral energy expenditure.

2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (2) ◽  
pp. H954-H960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufang Zhou ◽  
Hazel Huang ◽  
Celvie L. Yuan ◽  
Wendy Keung ◽  
Gary D. Lopaschuk ◽  
...  

Inhibition of myocardial fatty acid oxidation can improve left ventricular (LV) mechanical efficiency by increasing LV power for a given rate of myocardial energy expenditure. This phenomenon has not been assessed at high workloads in nonischemic myocardium; therefore, we subjected in vivo pig hearts to a high workload for 5 min and assessed whether blocking mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation with the carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I inhibitor oxfenicine would improve LV mechanical efficiency. In addition, the cardiac content of malonyl-CoA (an endogenous inhibitor of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I) and activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (which synthesizes malonyl-CoA) were assessed. Increased workload was induced by aortic constriction and dobutamine infusion, and LV efficiency was calculated from the LV pressure-volume loop and LV energy expenditure. In untreated pigs, the increase in LV power resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in fatty acid oxidation and cardiac malonyl-CoA content but did not affect the activation state of acetyl-CoA carboxylase. The activation state of the acetyl-CoA carboxylase inhibitory kinase AMP-activated protein kinase decreased by 40% with increased cardiac workload. Pretreatment with oxfenicine inhibited fatty acid oxidation by 75% and had no effect on cardiac energy expenditure but significantly increased LV power and LV efficiency (37 ± 5% vs. 26 ± 5%, P < 0.05) at high workload. In conclusion, 1) myocardial fatty acid oxidation increases with a short-term increase in cardiac workload, despite an increase in malonyl-CoA concentration, and 2) inhibition of fatty acid oxidation improves LV mechanical efficiency by increasing LV power without affecting cardiac energy expenditure.


2007 ◽  
Vol 192 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A Bechtold ◽  
Simon M Luckman

In the three decades since FMRFamide was isolated from the clam Macrocallista nimbosa, the list of RFamide peptides has been steadily growing. These peptides occur widely across the animal kingdom, including five groups of RFamide peptides identified in mammals. Although there is tremendous diversity in structure and biological activity in the RFamides, the involvement of these peptides in the regulation of energy balance and feeding behaviour appears consistently through evolution. Even so, questions remain as to whether feeding-related actions represent a primary function of the RFamides, especially within mammals. However, as we will discuss here, the study of RFamide function is rapidly expanding and with it so is our understanding of how these peptides can influence food intake directly as well as related aspects of feeding behaviour and energy expenditure.


1997 ◽  
Vol 327 (1) ◽  
pp. 267-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Grattan ROUGHAN

Concentrations of total CoAs in chloroplasts freshly isolated from spinach and peas were 10–20 μM, assuming a stromal volume of 66 μl per mg of chlorophyll. Acetyl-CoA and CoASH constituted at least 90% of the total CoA in freshly isolated chloroplasts. For a given chloroplast preparation, the concentration of endogenous acetyl-CoA was the same when extractions were performed using HClO4, trichloroacetic acid, propan-2-ol or chloroform/methanol, and the extracts analysed by quantitative HPLC after minimal processing. During fatty acid synthesis from acetate, concentrations of CoASH within spinach and pea chloroplasts varied from less than 0.1 to 5.0 μM. Malonyl-CoA concentrations were also very low (< 0.1–3.0 μM) during fatty acid synthesis but could be calculated from radioactivity incorporated from [1-14C]acetate. Concentrations of CoASH in chloroplasts synthesizing fatty acids could be doubled in the presence of Triton X-100, suggesting that the detergent stimulates fatty acid synthesis by increasing the turnover rate of acyl-CoA. However, although taken up, exogenous CoASH (1 μM) did not stimulate fatty acid synthesis by permeabilized spinach chloroplasts. Calculated rates for acetyl-CoA synthetase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase and malonyl-CoA–acyl-carrier-protein transacylase reactions at the concentrations of metabolites measured here are < 0.1–4% of the observed rates of fatty acid synthesis from acetate by isolated chloroplasts. The results suggest that CoA and its esters are probably confined within, and channelled through, the initial stages of a fatty acid synthase multienzyme complex.


1999 ◽  
Vol 276 (4) ◽  
pp. R1046-R1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark I. Friedman ◽  
Ruth B. Harris ◽  
Hong Ji ◽  
Israel Ramirez ◽  
Michael G. Tordoff

Inhibition of fatty acid oxidation stimulates feeding behavior in rats. To determine whether a decrease in hepatic fatty acid oxidation triggers this behavioral response, we compared the effects of different doses of methyl palmoxirate (MP), an inhibitor of fatty acid oxidation, on food intake with those on in vivo and in vitro liver and muscle metabolism. Administration of 1 mg/kg MP selectively decreased hepatic fatty acid oxidation but did not stimulate food intake. In contrast, feeding behavior increased in rats given 5 or 10 mg/kg MP, which inhibited hepatic fatty acid oxidation to the same extent as did the low dose but in addition suppressed fatty acid oxidation in muscle and produced a marked depletion of liver glycogen. Dose-related increases in food intake tracked dose-related reductions in liver ATP content, ATP-to-ADP ratio, and phosphorylation potential. The findings suggest that a decrease in hepatic fatty acid oxidation can stimulate feeding behavior by reducing hepatic energy production.


1998 ◽  
Vol 334 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasreen ALAM ◽  
E. David SAGGERSON

1. Rat soleus strips were incubated with 5 mM glucose, after which tissue metabolites were measured. Alternatively, muscle strips were incubated with 5 mM glucose and 0.2 mM palmitate, and the formation of 14CO2 from exogenous palmitate or from fatty acids released from prelabelled glycerolipids was measured. 2. Etomoxir, which inhibits the mitochondrial overt form of carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT1), increased the tissue content of long-chain fatty acyl-CoA esters and decreased the ratio of fatty acylcarnitine to fatty acyl-CoA, suggesting that such changes could be a diagnostic for the inhibition of CPT1. 3. Over a range of incubation conditions there was a positive correlation between the tissue contents of malonyl-CoA and long-chain fatty acyl-CoA esters. Under conditions in which these two metabolites increased in content (i.e. with insulin or with 3 mM dichloroacetate) there was a corresponding decrease in the ratio of fatty acylcarnitine to fatty acyl-CoA and a decrease in β-oxidation. Isoprenaline or palmitate (0.5 mM) opposed the effect of insulin, decreasing the contents of malonyl-CoA and long-chain fatty acyl-CoA, increasing the ratio of fatty acylcarnitine to fatty acyl-CoA and increasing β-oxidation. These findings are consistent with the notion that all of these agents can cause the acute regulation of CPT1 in Type I skeletal muscle. 4. The addition of 5-amino-4-imidazolecarboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAriboside) to cause activation of the AMP-activated protein kinase decreased the tissue content of malonyl-CoA. AICAriboside also had an antilipolytic effect in the muscle strips. 5. Measurements were made of the activities of ATP-citrate lyase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, fatty acid synthase and malonyl-CoA decarboxylase in soleus muscle and in representative Type IIa and Type IIb muscles. A cytosolic activity of malonyl-CoA decarboxylase would seem to offer a feasible route for the disposal of malonyl-CoA in skeletal muscle.


2007 ◽  
Vol 293 (1) ◽  
pp. R106-R115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth B. S. Harris ◽  
Tiffany D. Mitchell ◽  
Emily W. Kelso ◽  
W. P. Flatt

Loss of body fat in leptin-treated animals has been attributed to reduced energy intake, increased thermogenesis, and preferential fatty acid oxidation. Leptin does not decrease food intake or body fat in leptin-resistant high-fat (HF)-fed mice, possibly due to a failure of leptin to activate hypothalamic receptors. We measured energy expenditure of male C57BL/6 mice adapted to low-fat (LF) or HF diet and infused them for 13 days with PBS or 10 μg leptin/day from an intraperitoneal miniosmotic pump to test whether leptin resistance prevented leptin-induced increases in energy expenditure and fatty acid oxidation. There was no effect of low-dose leptin infusions on either of these measures in LF-fed or HF-fed mice, even though LF-fed mice lost body fat. Experiment 2 tested leptin responsiveness in LF-fed and HF-fed mice housed at different temperatures (18°C, 23°C, 27°C), assuming that the cold would increase and the hot environment would inhibit food intake and thermogenesis, which could potentially interfere with leptin action. LF-fed mice housed at 23°C were the only mice that lost body fat during leptin infusion, suggesting that an ability to modify energy expenditure is essential to the maintenance of leptin responsiveness. HF-fed mice in cold or warm environments did not respond to leptin. HF-fed mice in the hot environment were fatter than other HF-fed mice, and, surprisingly, leptin caused a further increase in body fat, demonstrating that the mice were not totally leptin resistant and that partial leptin resistance in a hot environment favors positive energy balance and fat deposition.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip J. Hopcroft ◽  
David I. Fisher

The fatty acid synthase (FAS) enzyme in mammalian cells is a large multidomain protein responsible for de novo synthesis of fatty acids. The steps catalyzed by FAS involve the condensation of acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA moieties in the presence of NADPH until palmitate is formed. Inhibition of FAS causes an accumulation of intracellular malonyl-CoA, as this metabolite is essentially committed to fatty acid synthesis once formed. Detection of intracellular metabolites for screening can be problematic due to a lack of appropriate tools, but here we describe a targeted liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopy (LCMS) method to directly measure endogenous levels of malonyl-CoA to drive a drug development structure–activity relationship (SAR) screening cascade. Our process involves preparation of samples at 96-well scale, normalization postpermeabilization via use of a whole-well imaging platform, and the LCMS detection methodology. The assay is amenable to multiplexing cellular endpoints, has a typical Z′ of >0.6, and has high reproducibility of EC50 values.


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