Mitochondrial fission is associated with UCP1 activity in human brite/beige adipocytes

Didier Pisani (1) , Valentin Barquissau (2) , Jean-Claude Chambard (1) , Diane Beuzelin (2) , Rayane Ghandour (1) , Maude Giroud (1) , Aline Mairal (2) , Sophie Pagnotta (3) , Saverio Cinti (4) , Dominique Langin (2) , Ez-Zoubir Amri (1)

1 IBV - Institut de Biologie Valrose
2 I2MC - Institut des Maladies Métaboliques et Cardiovasculaires
3 CCMA - Centre Commun de Microscopie Appliquée
4 UNIVPM - Polytechnic University of Marche [Ancona, Italy] / Università Politecnica delle Marche [Ancona, Italia]

Objective: Thermogenic adipocytes (i.e. brown or brite/beige adipocytes) are able to burn large amounts of lipids and carbohydrates as a result of highly active mitochondria and enhanced uncoupled respiration, due to UCP1 activity. Although mitochondria are the key organelles for this thermogenic function, limited human data are available. Methods/results: We characterized changes in the mitochondrial function of human brite adipocytes, using hMADS cells as a model of white- to brite-adipocyte conversion. We found that profound molecular modifications were associated with morphological changes in mitochondria. The fission process was partly driven by the DRP1 protein, which also promoted mitochondrial uncoupling. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that white-to-brite conversion of human adipocytes relies on molecular, morphological and functional changes in mitochondria, which enable brite/beige cells to carry out thermogenesis.

Mots clés: Brite/beige adipocyte; DRP1; Mitochondria; UCP1; hMADS

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]; Biologie cellulaire

Didier Pisani, Valentin Barquissau, Jean-Claude Chambard, Diane Beuzelin, Rayane Ghandour, et al.. Mitochondrial fission is associated with UCP1 activity in human brite/beige adipocytes. Molecular metabolism, 2018, 7, pp.35-44. ⟨10.1016/j.molmet.2017.11.007⟩. ⟨hal-02111789⟩