1C). To verify the functional impact of the induction of mitochondrial genes we measured COX and citrate synthase (a nuclear-encoded mitochondrial matrix marker of citrate cycle) enzyme activity in total liver lysates. As expected, the analyses confirmed that the specific activities of the two enzymes were increased in LivPGC1-β hepatocytes as compared with the www.selleckchem.com/products/CAL-101.html controls (Fig. 1D). In summary, liver-specific PGC1-β

overexpression is able to induce mitochondrial functions through the induction of proteins involved in citrate cycle and oxidative phosphorylation, as well as to enhance the expression of genes involved in TG biosynthesis. To test whether the ability of PGC1-β overexpression to increase the expression of genes encoding for proteins involved in TG biosynthesis could cause changes in the circulating lipids, we measured serum lipid levels of wildtype and LivPGC1-β mice fed a standard diet (chow diet). Different from previous data reporting that overexpression of PGC1-β by way of adenovirus infections

dramatically increases TG levels in the blood,20 we only recorded a slight, but significant, induction in serum TG levels of LivPGC-1β mice http://www.selleckchem.com/products/MK-2206.html when compared with their littermate controls (Fig. 2A). However, after the injection of Triton WR-1339 that prevents the catabolism of VLDL by inhibiting lipoprotein lipase activity, the level of TG secretion of LivPGC-1β mice fed with a normal chow diet was 3-fold higher than control littermates (Fig. 2B). Given that PGC-1β is also able to induce the expression of genes involved in fatty acid catabolism and since the serum TG levels did not reach 2-fold induction in LivPGC-1β mice despite their higher TG secretion rate, we decided to test whether PGC-1β could induce an efficient substrate switch in response to a lipid overload. For this purpose, we administered an intragastric olive oil load by gavage to wildtype and LivPGC-1β mice and followed the clearance of serum TG and NEFAs at different timepoints. Strikingly, whereas both wildtype and LivPGC-1β mice showed a massive increase

learn more in TG levels at 2 hours after administration of olive oil in LivPGC-1β mice the TG concentration returned to almost normal levels 4 hours after the fat load. In contrast, in wildtype mice TG concentrations reached basal levels only 6 hours from oil injection, suggesting that overexpression of PGC-1β in the liver promotes TG clearance from the blood under the condition of lipid overload (Fig. 2C). A similar effect was observed for the serum concentration of NEFAs, although their clearance was blunted if compared with TG clearance (Fig. 2D). Taken together, these data imply that specific overexpression of PGC-1β in the liver leads to TG and NEFA clearance by activating mitochondrial β-oxidation of fatty acids.