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Objective An ethanolic extract of Artemisia scoparia (SCO) improves adipose tissue function and reduces negative metabolic consequences of high-fat feeding. A. scoparia has a long history of medicinal use across Asia and has anti-inflammatory effects in various cell types and disease models. The objective of the current study was to investigate SCO's effects on inflammation in cells relevant to metabolic health. Methods Inflammatory responses were assayed in cultured adipocytes, macrophages, and insulinoma cells by quantitative polymerase chain reaction, immunoblotting, and NF-κB reporter assays. Results In tumor necrosis factor α-treated adipocytes, SCO mitigated ERK and NF-κB signaling as well as transcriptional responses but had no effect on fatty acid-binding protein 4 secretion. SCO also reduced levels of deleted in breast cancer 1 protein in adipocytes and inhibited inflammatory gene expression in stimulated macrophages. Finally, in pancreatic β-cells, SCO decreased NF-κB-responsive promoter activity induced by IL-1β treatment. Conclusions SCO's ability to promote adipocyte development and function is thought to mediate its insulin-sensitizing actions in vivo. Our findings that SCO inhibits inflammatory responses through at least two distinct signaling pathways (ERK and NF-κB) in three cell types known to contribute to metabolic disease reveal that SCO may act more broadly than previously thought to improve metabolic health.

Adipocytes and adipose tissue are not inert and make substantial contributions to systemic metabolism by influencing energy homeostasis, insulin sensitivity, and lipid storage. In addition to well-studied hormones such as insulin, there are numerous hormones, cytokines, and growth factors that modulate adipose tissue function. Many endocrine mediators utilize the JAK–STAT pathway to mediate dozens of biological processes, including inflammation and immune responses. JAKs and STATs can modulate both adipocyte development and mature adipocyte function. Of the seven STAT family members, four STATs are expressed in adipocytes and regulated during adipogenesis (STATs 1, 3, 5A, and 5B). These STATs have been shown to play influential roles in adipose tissue development and function. STAT6, in contrast, is highly expressed in both preadipocytes and mature adipocytes, but is not considered to play a major role in regulating adipose tissue function. This review will summarize the latest research that pertains to the functions of STATs in adipocytes and adipose tissue.

Oncostatin M (OSM) is an immune cell-derived cytokine that is upregulated in adipose tissue in obesity. Upon binding its receptor (OSMR), OSM induces the phosphorylation of the p66 subunit of Src homology 2 domain-containing transforming protein 1 (SHC1), called p66Shc, and activates the extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK) pathway. Mice with adipocyte-specific OSMR deletion (OsmrFKO) are insulin resistant and exhibit adipose tissue inflammation, suggesting that intact adipocyte OSM–OSMR signaling is necessary for maintaining adipose tissue health. How OSM affects specific adipocyte functions is still unclear. Here, we examined the effects of OSM on adipocyte lipolysis. We treated 3T3-L1 adipocytes with OSM, insulin, and/or inhibitors of SHC1 and ERK and measured glycerol release. We also measured phosphorylation of p66Shc, ERK, and insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS1) and the expression of lipolysis-associated genes in OSM-exposed 3T3-L1 adipocytes and primary adipocytes from control and OsmrFKO mice. We found that OSM induces adipocyte lipolysis via a p66Shc-ERK pathway and inhibits the suppression of lipolysis by insulin. Further, OSM induces phosphorylation of inhibitory IRS1 residues. We conclude that OSM is a stimulator of lipolysis and inhibits adipocyte insulin response. Future studies will determine how these roles of OSM affect adipose tissue function in health and disease.

Two new diprenylated coumaric acid isomers (1a and 1b) and two known congeners, capillartemisin A (2) and B (3), were isolated from Artemisia scoparia as bioactive markers using bioactivity-guided HPLC fractionation. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic means, including 1D and 2D NMR methods and LC-MS, with their purity assessed by 1D 1H pure shift qNMR spectroscopic analysis. The bioactivity of compounds was evaluated by enhanced accumulation of lipids, as measured using Oil Red O staining, and by increased expression of several adipocyte marker genes, including adiponectin in 3T3-L1 adipocytes relative to untreated negative controls. Compared to the plant's 80% EtOH extract, these purified compounds showed significant but still weaker inhibition of TNFα-induced lipolysis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. This suggests that additional bioactive substances are responsible for the multiple metabolically favorable effects on adipocytes observed with Artemisia scoparia extract.

Adipose, or fat, tissue (AT) was once considered an inert tissue that primarily existed to store lipids, and was not historically recognized as an important organ in the regulation and maintenance of health. With the rise of obesity and more rigorous research, AT is now recognized as a highly complex metabolic organ involved in a host of important physiological functions, including glucose homeostasis and a multitude of endocrine capabilities. AT dysfunction has been implicated in several disease states, most notably obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. The study of AT has provided useful insight in developing strategies to combat these highly prevalent metabolic diseases. This review highlights the major functions of adipose tissue and the consequences that can occur when disruption of these functions leads to systemic metabolic dysfunction.

Adipocytes are important players in metabolic health and disease, and disruption of adipocyte development or function contributes to metabolic dysregulation. Hence, adipocytes are significant targets for therapeutic intervention in obesity and metabolic syndrome. Plants have long been sources for bioactive compounds and drugs. In previous studies, we screened botanical extracts for effects on adipogenesis in vitro and discovered that an ethanolic extract of Artemisia scoparia (SCO) could promote adipocyte differentiation. To follow up on these studies, we have used various separation methods to identify the compound(s) responsible for SCO's adipogenic properties. Fractions and subfractions of SCO were tested for effects on lipid accumulation and adipogenic gene expression in differentiating 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Fractions were also analyzed by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography- Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS), and resulting peaks were putatively identified through high resolution, high mass accuracy mass spectrometry, literature data, and available natural products databases. The inactive fractions contained mostly quercetin derivatives and chlorogenates, including chlorogenic acid and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, which had no effects on adipogenesis when tested individually, thus ruling them out as pro-adipogenic bioactives in SCO. Based on these studies we have putatively identified the principal constituents in SCO fractions and subfractions that promoted adipocyte development and fat cell gene expression as prenylated coumaric acids, coumarin monoterpene ethers, 6-demethoxycapillarisin and two polymethoxyflavones.

An ethanolic extract of Artemisia scoparia (SCO) has metabolically favorable effects on adipocyte development and function in vitro and in vivo. In diet-induced obese mice, SCO supplementation significantly reduced fasting glucose and insulin levels. Given the importance of adipocyte lipolysis in metabolic health, we hypothesized that SCO modulates lipolysis in vitro and in vivo. Free fatty acids and glycerol were measured in the sera of mice fed a high-fat diet with or without SCO supplementation. In cultured 3T3-L1 adipocytes, the effects of SCO on lipolysis were assessed by measuring glycerol and free fatty acid release. Microarray analysis, qPCR, and immunoblotting were used to assess gene expression and protein abundance. We found that SCO supplementation of a high-fat diet in mice substantially reduces circulating glycerol and free fatty acid levels, and we observed a cell-autonomous effect of SCO to significantly attenuate tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα)-induced lipolysis in cultured adipocytes. Although several prolipolytic and antilipolytic genes were identified by microarray analysis of subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue from SCO-fed mice, regulation of these genes did not consistently correlate with SCO’s ability to reduce lipolytic metabolites in sera or cell culture media. However, in the presence of TNFα in cultured adipocytes, SCO induced antilipolytic changes in phosphorylation of hormone-sensitive lipase and perilipin. Together, these data suggest that the antilipolytic effects of SCO on adipose tissue play a role in the ability of this botanical extract to improve whole body metabolic parameters and support its use as a dietary supplement to promote metabolic resiliency.

Dietary methionine restriction (MR) produces an integrated series of biochemical and physiological responses that improve biomarkers of metabolic health, limit fat accretion, and enhance insulin sensitivity. Using transcriptional profiling to guide tissue-specific evaluations of molecular responses to MR, we report that liver and adipose tissue are the primary targets of a transcriptional program that remodeled lipid metabolism in each tissue. The MR diet produced a coordinated downregulation of lipogenic genes in the liver, resulting in a corresponding reduction in the capacity of the liver to synthesize and export lipid. In contrast, the transcriptional response in white adipose tissue (WAT) involved a depot-specific induction of lipogenic and oxidative genes and a commensurate increase in capacity to synthesize and oxidize fatty acids. These responses were accompanied by a significant change in adipocyte morphology, with the MR diet reducing cell size and increasing mitochondrial density across all depots. The coordinated transcriptional remodeling of lipid metabolism between liver and WAT by dietary MR produced an overall reduction in circulating and tissue lipids and provides a potential mechanism for the increase in metabolic flexibility and enhanced insulin sensitivity produced by the diet.

Dietary methionine restriction (MR) is a mimetic of chronic dietary restriction (DR) in the sense that MR increases rodent longevity, but without food restriction. We report here that MR also persistently increases total energy expenditure (EE) and limits fat deposition despite increasing weight-specific food consumption. In Fischer 344 (F344) rats consuming control or MR diets for 3, 9, and 20 mo, mean EE was 1.5-fold higher in MR vs. control rats, primarily due to higher EE during the night at all ages. The day-to-night transition produced a twofold higher heat increment of feeding (3.0 degrees C vs. 1.5 degrees C) in MR vs. controls and an exaggerated increase in respiratory quotient (RQ) to values greater than 1, indicative of the interconversion of glucose to lipid by de novo lipogenesis. The simultaneous inhibition of glucose utilization and shift to fat oxidation during the day was also more complete in MR (RQ approximately 0.75) vs. controls (RQ approximately 0.85). Dietary MR produced a rapid and persistent increase in uncoupling protein 1 expression in brown (BAT) and white adipose tissue (WAT) in conjunction with decreased leptin and increased adiponectin levels in serum, suggesting that remodeling of the metabolic and endocrine function of adipose tissue may have an important role in the overall increase in EE. We conclude that the hyperphagic response to dietary MR is matched to a coordinated increase in uncoupled respiration, suggesting the engagement of a nutrient-sensing mechanism, which compensates for limited methionine through integrated effects on energy homeostasis.

The transcriptional co-activator PGC-1alpha regulates functional plasticity in adipose tissue by linking sympathetic input to the transcriptional program of adaptive thermogenesis. We report here a novel truncated form of PGC-1alpha (NT-PGC-1alpha) produced by alternative 3' splicing that introduces an in-frame stop codon into PGC-1alpha mRNA. The expressed protein includes the first 267 amino acids of PGC-1alpha and 3 additional amino acids from the splicing insert. NT-PGC-1alpha contains the transactivation and nuclear receptor interaction domains but is missing key domains involved in nuclear localization, interaction with other transcription factors, and protein degradation. Expression and subcellular localization of NT-PGC-1alpha are dynamically regulated in the context of physiological signals that regulate full-length PGC-1alpha, but the truncated domain structure conveys unique properties with respect to protein-protein interactions, protein stability, and recruitment to target gene promoters. Therefore, NT-PGC-1alpha is a co-expressed, previously unrecognized form of PGC-1alpha with functions that are both unique from and complementary to PGC-1alpha.

A genome-wide linkage scan for endurance training-induced changes in submaximal exercise stroke volume (ΔSV50) in the HERITAGE Family Study revealed two chromosomal regions (2q31–q32 and 10p11.2) with at least suggestive evidence of linkage among white families. Here we report a further characterization of the quantitative trait locus (QTL) in chromosome 2q31 and provide evidence that titin ( TTN) is likely a candidate gene involved. The original linkage was detected with two markers ( D2S335 and D2S1391), and the QTL covered ∼25 million base pairs (Mb). We added 12 microsatellite markers resulting in an average marker density of one marker per 2.3 Mb. The evidence of linkage increased from P = 0.006 to P = 0.0002 and 0.00002 in the multi- and single-point analyses, respectively. The strongest evidence of linkage was seen with two markers in and near the TTN gene. Transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT) with the same marker set provided evidence for association with one of the TTN markers ( D2S385; P = 0.004). TTN is a major contributor to the elasticity of cardiomyocytes and a key regulator of the Frank-Starling mechanism. Since TTN is the largest gene in the human genome, the challenge is to identify the DNA sequence variants contributing to the interindividual differences in cardiac adaptation to endurance training.

Objective Plant-based therapies have been used in medicine throughout recorded history. Information about the therapeutic properties of plants often can be found in local cultures as folk medicine is communicated from one generation to the next. The aim of this study was to identify native Louisiana plants from Creole folk medicine as a potential source of therapeutic compounds for the treatment of insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and related disorders. Methods We used an interdisciplinary approach combining expertise in disciplines ranging from cultural anthropology and botany to biochemistry and endocrinology to screen native southwest Louisiana plants. Translation of accounts of Creole folk medicine yielded a list of plants with documented use in treating a variety of conditions, including inflammation. These plants were collected, vouchered, and catalogued before extraction of soluble components. Extracts were analyzed for bioactivity in regulating inflammatory responses in macrophages or fatty acid–induced insulin resistance in C2C12 skeletal muscle cells. Results Several extracts altered gene expression of inflammatory markers in macrophages. Multiplex analysis of kinase activation in insulin-signaling pathways in skeletal muscle also identified a subset of extracts that alter insulin-stimulated protein kinase B phosphorylation in the presence of fatty-acid–induced insulin resistance. Conclusion An interdisciplinary approach to screening botanical sources of therapeutic agents can be successfully applied to identify native plants used in folk medicine as potential sources of therapeutic agents in treating insulin resistance in skeletal muscle or inflammatory processes associated with obesity-related insulin resistance.

In preclinical reports, restriction of dietary methionine intake was shown to enhance metabolic flexibility, improve lipid profiles, and reduce fat deposition. The present report is the outcome of a "proof of concept" study to evaluate the efficacy of dietary methionine restriction (MR) in humans with metabolic syndrome.Twenty-six obese subjects (six male and 20 female) meeting criteria for metabolic syndrome were randomized to a diet restricted to 2 mg methionine/kg body weight per day and were provided capsules containing either placebo (n = 12) or 33 mg methionine/kg body weight per day (n = 14). Energy expenditure, body composition, insulin sensitivity, and biomarkers of metabolic syndrome were measured before and after 16 wk on the respective diets.Insulin sensitivity and biomarkers of metabolic syndrome improved comparably in both dietary groups. Rates of energy expenditure were unaffected by the diets, but dietary MR produced a significant increase in fat oxidation (MR, 12.1 ± 6.0% increase; control, 8.1 ± 3.3% decrease) and reduction in intrahepatic lipid content (MR liver/spleen attenuation ratio, 8.1 ± 3.3% increase; control ratio, 2.2 ± 2.1% increase) that was independent of the comparable reduction in weight and adiposity that occurred in both groups.Sixteen weeks of dietary MR in subjects with metabolic syndrome produced a shift in fuel oxidation that was independent of the weight loss, decreased adiposity, and improved insulin sensitivity that was common to both diets.

Dietary methionine restriction (MR) limits fat deposition and decreases plasma leptin, while increasing food consumption, total energy expenditure (EE), plasma adiponectin, and expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in brown and white adipose tissue (BAT and WAT). β-adrenergic receptors (β-AR) serve as conduits for sympathetic input to adipose tissue, but their role in mediating the effects of MR on energy homeostasis is unclear. Energy intake, weight, and adiposity were modestly higher in β3-AR−/−mice on the Control diet compared with wild-type (WT) mice, but the hyperphagic response to the MR diet and the reduction in fat deposition did not differ between the genotypes. The absence of β3-ARs also did not diminish the ability of MR to increase total EE and plasma adiponectin or decrease leptin mRNA, but it did block the MR-dependent increase in UCP1 mRNA in BAT but not WAT. In a further study, propranolol was used to antagonize remaining β-adrenergic input (β1- and β2-ARs) in β3-AR−/−mice, and this treatment blocked >50% of the MR-induced increase in total EE and UCP1 induction in both BAT and WAT. We conclude that signaling through β-adrenergic receptors is a component of the mechanism used by dietary MR to increase EE, and that β1- and β2-ARs are able to substitute for β3-ARs in mediating the effect of dietary MR on EE. These findings are consistent with the involvement of both UCP1-dependent and -independent mechanisms in the physiological responses affecting energy balance that are produced by dietary MR.

Zhong Q Wang,1,2 Yongmei Yu,1,2 Xian H Zhang,1,2 Z Elizabeth Floyd,3 Anik Boudreau,2 Kun Lian,4 William T Cefalu1,21Nutrition and Diabetes Research Laboratory, 2Botanical Research Center, 3Ubiquitin Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, LA, USA; 4The Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Southern University, Baton Rouge, LA, USAAim: To compare the effects of dietary fibers on hepatic cellular signaling in mice.Methods: Mice were randomly divided into four groups (n = 9/group): high-fat diet (HFD) control, cellulose, psyllium, and sugarcane fiber (SCF) groups. All mice were fed a HFD with or without 10% dietary fiber (w/w) for 12 weeks. Body weight, food intake, fasting glucose, and fasting insulin levels were measured. At the end of the study, hepatic fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 21, AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and insulin signaling protein content were determined.Results: Hepatic FGF21 content was significantly lowered, but βKlotho, fibroblast growth factor receptor 1, fibroblast growth factor receptor 3, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha proteins were significantly increased in the SCF group compared with those in the HFD group (P < 0.01). SCF supplementation also significantly enhanced insulin and AMPK signaling, as well as decreased hepatic triglyceride and cholesterol in comparison with the HFD mice. The study has shown that dietary fiber, especially SCF, significantly attenuates lipid accumulation in the liver by enhancing hepatic FGF21, insulin, and AMPK signaling in mice fed a HFD.Conclusion: This study suggests that the modulation of gastrointestinal factors by dietary fibers may play a key role in both enhancing hepatic multiple cellular signaling and reducing lipid accumulation.Keywords: dietary fiber, FGF21, insulin signaling, AMPK, GLP-1, PI 3K