RESUMO
Age-related disease, not aging per se, causes most morbidity in older humans. Here we report that skeletal muscle respiratory uncoupling due to UCP1 expression diminishes age-related disease in three mouse models. In a longevity study, median survival was increased in UCP mice (animals with skeletal muscle-specific UCP1 expression), and lymphoma was detected less frequently in UCP female mice. In apoE null mice, a vascular disease model, diet-induced atherosclerosis was decreased in UCP animals. In agouti yellow mice, a genetic obesity model, diabetes and hypertension were reversed by induction of UCP1 in skeletal muscle. Uncoupled mice had decreased adiposity, increased temperature and metabolic rate, elevated muscle SIRT and AMP kinase, and serum characterized by increased adiponectin and decreased IGF-1 and fibrinogen. Accelerating metabolism in skeletal muscle does not appear to impact aging but may delay age-related disease.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/metabolismo , Transporte de Elétrons/fisiologia , Músculo Esquelético/metabolismo , Envelhecimento/genética , Animais , Apolipoproteínas E/deficiência , Apolipoproteínas E/genética , Aterosclerose/genética , Aterosclerose/metabolismo , Aterosclerose/prevenção & controle , Dieta Aterogênica , Feminino , Humanos , Canais Iônicos/deficiência , Canais Iônicos/genética , Canais Iônicos/metabolismo , Longevidade/genética , Longevidade/fisiologia , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Endogâmicos CBA , Camundongos Knockout , Camundongos Transgênicos , Proteínas Mitocondriais/deficiência , Proteínas Mitocondriais/genética , Proteínas Mitocondriais/metabolismo , Desacopladores/metabolismo , Proteína Desacopladora 1RESUMO
The observations that atherosclerosis often occurs in non-smokers without elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and that most atherosclerosis loci so far identified in mice do not affect systemic risk factors associated with atherosclerosis, suggest that as-yet-unidentified mechanisms must contribute to vascular disease. Arterial walls undergo regional disturbances of metabolism that include the uncoupling of respiration and oxidative phosphorylation, a process that occurs to some extent in all cells and may be characteristic of blood vessels being predisposed to the development of atherosclerosis. To test the hypothesis that inefficient metabolism in blood vessels promotes vascular disease, we generated mice with doxycycline-inducible expression of uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) in the artery wall. Here we show that UCP1 expression in aortic smooth muscle cells causes hypertension and increases dietary atherosclerosis without affecting cholesterol levels. UCP1 expression also increases superoxide production and decreases the availability of nitric oxide, evidence of oxidative stress. These results provide proof of principle that inefficient metabolism in blood vessels can cause vascular disease.