The obesogenic effect of a high-fat (HF) diet is counterbalanced by stimulation of energy expenditure and lipid oxidation in response to a meal. The aim of this study was to reveal whether muscle nonshivering thermogenesis could be stimulated by a HF diet, especially in obesity-resistant A/J compared with obesity-prone C57BL/6J (B/6J) mice. Experiments were performed on male mice born and maintained at 30 degrees C. Four-week-old mice were randomly weaned onto a low-fat (LF) or HF diet for 2 wk. In the A/J LF mice, cold exposure (4 degrees C) resulted in hypothermia, whereas the A/J HF, B/6J LF, and B/6J HF mice were cold tolerant. Cold sensitivity of the A/J LF mice was associated with a relatively low whole body energy expenditure under resting conditions, which was normalized by the HF diet. In both strains, the HF diet induced uncoupling protein-1-mediated thermogenesis, with a stronger induction in A/J mice. Only in A/J mice: 1) the HF diet augmented activation of whole body lipid oxidation by cold; and 2) at 30 degrees C, oxygen consumption, total content, and phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and AICAR-stimulated palmitate oxidation in soleus muscle was increased by the HF diet in parallel with significantly increased leptinemia. Gene expression data in soleus muscle of the A/J HF mice indicated a shift from carbohydrate to fatty acid oxidation. Our results suggest a role for muscle nonshivering thermogenesis and lipid oxidation in the obesity-resistant phenotype of A/J mice and indicate that a HF diet could induce thermogenesis in oxidative muscle, possibly via the leptin-AMPK axis.

Department of Adipose Tissue Biology Institute of Physiology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Videnska 1083 Prague Czech Republic

References provided by Crossref.org

Adaptive Induction of Nonshivering Thermogenesis in Muscle Rather Than Brown Fat Could Counteract Obesity

Thermoneutral housing promotes hepatic steatosis in standard diet-fed C57BL/6N mice, with a less pronounced effect on NAFLD progression upon high-fat feeding

Impairment of adrenergically-regulated thermogenesis in brown fat of obesity-resistant mice is compensated by non-shivering thermogenesis in skeletal muscle

Adipose tissue-specific ablation of PGC-1β impairs thermogenesis in brown fat

Postnatal induction of muscle fatty acid oxidation in mice differing in propensity to obesity: a role of pyruvate dehydrogenase

Enhancement of brown fat thermogenesis using chenodeoxycholic acid in mice

Preservation of metabolic flexibility in skeletal muscle by a combined use of n-3 PUFA and rosiglitazone in dietary obese mice

Synergistic induction of lipid catabolism and anti-inflammatory lipids in white fat of dietary obese mice in response to calorie restriction and n-3 fatty acids