Key result
Cold acclimation and T3 treatment induce beige-like fat in chickens, driven by increased avUCP expression.
Why the study?
While brown adipocytes are hypothesized to be absent in birds, the existence of beige fat as an adaptation to cold environments had not been studied directly.
While it has been hypothesized that brown adipocytes responsible for mammalian thermogenesis are absent in birds, the existence of beige fat has yet to be studied directly. The present study tests the hypothesis that beige fat emerges in birds as a mechanism of physiological adaptation to cold environments. Subcutaneous neck adipose tissue from cold-acclimated or triiodothyronine (T3)-treated chickens exhibited increases in the expression of avian uncoupling protein (avUCP, an ortholog of mammalian UCP2 and UCP3) gene and some known mammalian beige adipocyte-specific markers. Morphological characteristics of white adipose tissues of treated chickens showed increased numbers of both small and larger clusters of multilocular fat cells within the tissues. Increases in protein levels of avUCP and mitochondrial marker protein, voltage-dependent anion channel, and immunohistochemical analysis for subcutaneous neck fat revealed the presence of potentially thermogenic mitochondria-rich cells. This is the first evidence that the capacity for thermogenesis may be acquired by differentiating adipose tissue into beige-like fat for maintaining temperature homeostasis in the subcutaneous fat ‘neck warmer’ in chickens exposed to a cold environment.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Sotome et al. (2021) studied Cold adaptation (n=36). Cold exposure or T3 treatment vs. Thermoneutral environment (24 °C) and standard diet was evaluated on Expression of avUCP mRNA in neck subcutaneous fat (p=<0.05). Cold acclimation and T3 treatment induced the emergence of beige-like fat in the subcutaneous neck adipose tissue of chickens, evidenced by increased avUCP expression and multilocular fat cells.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: