Journal of Pineal Research
Journal of Pineal Research
5 years ago

Melatonin increases brown adipose tissue mass and function in Zücker diabetic fatty rats: implications for obesity control

Gumersindo Fernández Vázquez, Ahmad Agil, Russel J. Reiter
Melatonin limits obesity in rodents without affecting food intake and activity, suggesting a thermogenic effect. Previously we demonstrated that melatonin browns subcutaneous fat in Zücker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. Other works pointed to melatonin as a signal that increases brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass and function in rodents. However, direct proof of thermogenic properties (uncoupled mitochondria) of the newly recruited BAT in response to melatonin is still lacking. Therefore, in the present work we investigated if melatonin recruits thermogenic BAT in ZDF rats. Zücker lean (ZL) and ZDF animals were subdivided into two groups, control (C) and treated with oral melatonin (M) for 6 weeks. Mitochondrial mass, activity of citrate synthase (CS) and respiratory chain complexes I and IV were lower in C-ZDF than in C-ZL animals (P < 0.001). Melatonin treatment increased BAT weight in ZDF rats (P < 0.001). Also, it rose mitochondrial mass (P < 0.01) and activities of CS and complexes I and IV (P < 0.001) in both, ZDF and ZL rats. Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) mRNA and protein were 50% lower in BAT from obese rats. Also, guanosine diphosphate (GDP) binding was lower in ZDF than in lean rats (P< 0.01). Melatonin treatment of obese rats restored the expression of UCP1 and GDP binding to levels of lean rats, and sensitized the thermogenic response to cold exposure. These data demonstrated that melatonin recruits thermogenic BAT in ZDF rats. This may contribute to melatonin′s control of body weight and its metabolic benefits. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1111/jpi.12472

You might also like
Discover & Discuss Important Research

Keeping up-to-date with research can feel impossible, with papers being published faster than you'll ever be able to read them. That's where Researcher comes in: we're simplifying discovery and making important discussions happen. With over 19,000 sources, including peer-reviewed journals, preprints, blogs, universities, podcasts and Live events across 10 research areas, you'll never miss what's important to you. It's like social media, but better. Oh, and we should mention - it's free.

  • Download from Google Play
  • Download from App Store
  • Download from AppInChina

Researcher displays publicly available abstracts and doesn’t host any full article content. If the content is open access, we will direct clicks from the abstracts to the publisher website and display the PDF copy on our platform. Clicks to view the full text will be directed to the publisher website, where only users with subscriptions or access through their institution are able to view the full article.