VEGFB₁₆₇ Roles On Adipose Development And Energy Metabolism

One of the most serious public health problems is obesity and the associated diseases,including diabetes,cardiovascular disease and cancers.Obesity is due to the excessive accumulation of fat.Adipose tissues are divided into white and brown adipose.The main function of white adipose tissues is to store energy in the form of triglycerides.In contrast,the brown adipose mainly functions as heat generation,converting chemical energy into heat through the uncoupled respiratory chain,important to cold resistance and obesity prevetion.Understandingthe regulation of white and brown adipose formation and energy metabolism is important basis for clinical practice.It has been reported that VEGFB,a member of VEGF family,regulates fatty acid transport and energy metabolism and may affect the differentiation and development of adipose tissues.VEGFB has two isoforms,VEGFB₁₆₇ and VEGFB₁₈₆.Their biologic roles on adipose differentiation and energy metabolism are still not clear.We successfully constructed a transgenic mouse model of adipose tissue-specific overexpression of VEGFB₁₆₇ using the transgenic technology platform.Overexpression of VEGFB₁₆₇ had no evident effect on the growth and reproduction.But,mice overexpressing VEGFB₁₆₇67 hashigher body temperature,less fat accumulation and smaller body weight compare to wild type mice.Overexpressing VEGFB₁₆₇ led to smaller white adipocytes and increased brown adipocytes through down regulating white adipose tissue-specific gene Leptin and up regulating brown adipose tissue-related genes such as UCP-1 and BMP-7.White adipose appeared like brown adipose.Overexpression of VEGFB₁₆₇67 increased the expression of fatp3 and fatp4 in WAT and accelerated the metabolic efficiency of fatty acids.VEGFB₁₆₇67 regulates adipose differentiation and metabolism,affects ratios between white and brown adipose tissues and is an important target for obesity control.