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Red blood cell β-adrenergic receptors contribute to diet-induced energy expenditure by increasing O2 supply
Eun Ran Kim, … , Rebecca Berdeaux, Qingchun Tong
Eun Ran Kim, … , Rebecca Berdeaux, Qingchun Tong
Published July 20, 2017
Citation Information: JCI Insight. 2017;2(14):e93367. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.93367.
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Research Article Endocrinology Metabolism

Red blood cell β-adrenergic receptors contribute to diet-induced energy expenditure by increasing O2 supply

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Abstract

Diet-induced obesity (DIO) represents the major cause for the current obesity epidemic, but the mechanism underlying DIO is unclear. β-Adrenergic receptors (β-ARs) play a major role in sympathetic nervous system–mediated (SNS-mediated) diet-induced energy expenditure (EE). Rbc express abundant β-ARs; however, a potential role for rbc in DIO remains untested. Here, we demonstrated that high-fat, high-caloric diet (HFD) feeding increased both EE and blood O2 content, and the HFD-induced increases in blood O2 level and in body weight gain were negatively correlated. Deficiency of β-ARs in rbc reduced glycolysis and ATP levels, diminished HFD-induced increases in both blood O2 content and EE, and resulted in DIO. Importantly, specific activation of cAMP signaling in rbc promoted HFD-induced EE and reduced HFD-induced tissue hypoxia independent of obesity. Both HFD and pharmacological activation cAMP signaling in rbc led to increased glycolysis and ATP levels. These results identify a previously unknown role for rbc β-ARs in mediating the SNS action on HFD-induced EE by increasing O2 supply, and they demonstrate that HFD-induced EE is limited by blood O2 availability and can be augenmented by increased O2 supply.

Authors

Eun Ran Kim, Shengjie Fan, Dmitry Akhmedov, Kaiqi Sun, Hoyong Lim, William O’Brien, Yuanzhong Xu, Leandra R. Mangieri, Yaming Zhu, Cheng-Chi Lee, Yeonseok Chung, Yang Xia, Yong Xu, Feng Li, Kai Sun, Rebecca Berdeaux, Qingchun Tong

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Figure 3

Activation of Gs signaling in rbc increases HFD-induced EE and blood O2 content.

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Activation of Gs signaling in rbc increases HFD-induced EE and blood O2 ...
(A and B) EpoR-Cre expression pattern shown by tdTomato (red fluorescence) in EpoR-Cre Ai9 reporter mice in blood cells (A) and brain tissues (B). Note that in A, all reporter-positive Cre-expressing blood cells (white arrows) were negative for DAPI (blue arrows), a marker for nuclei, suggesting rbc; in B, the Cre-expressing structures (white arrows) in the brain were confined in blood vessels as marked by IB4 expression (green), suggesting rbc trapped in blood vessels. (C and D) Acute effects of CNO injection in mice on chow. Rbc-GsD mice and littermate controls (8–10 weeks of age, males, n = 4–8/group) were i.p. injected with saline and CNO (1 mg/kg, bw) as indicated and were measured for O2 consumption (C) and O2 saturation (D). (E and F) Acute effects of CNO injections in mice on HFD. Rbc-Gs mice and littermate controls (8–10 weeks of age, males, n = 5–6) fed HFD and were measured for O2 consumption (E) and O2 saturation (F). (G and H) Levels of glucose-6-p(fructose-6-p)/lactate (G) and ATP (H) in rbc 50 min after receiving i.p. CNO (1 mg/kg, bw) from a cohort of control and RBD-GsD mice fed HFD for 2 weeks (n = 4–5/group). Rbc-GsD, EpoR-Cre::Rosa26-LSL-Gs-DREADD. Scale bar: 50 μM. Dashed lines in E indicates dark periods. All data presented as mean ± SEM; *P < 0.05, #P = 0.06 by unpaired Student’s t tests.

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