Sympathetic iBAT (interscapular brown adipose tissue) activation high fat (HF) low fat (LF) diet study

Study Purpose: The capacity of iBAT (interscapular brown adipose tissue) to convert energy from ingested and stored nutrients into heat is currently exploited as a strategy to change the energy balance and prevent or treat obesity. Yet, pharmacological activation and electric stimulation of the iBAT (e.g. via the greater splanchnic nerve) have not been successful, possibly due to an underestimation of the presence of distinct units/fibers serving different, often opposite functions. In this study, we tested if chemogenetic activation of iBAT-specific sympathetic fibers causes beneficial metabolic effects on body weight, adiposity, glucose homeostasis, and substrate flux in lean vs. obese mice.

Data Collection: Quantitative body composition analysis, manual body weight measurements, quantitative metabolic measurements, glucose tolerance data, fatty acid oxidation, insulin, leptin, and glucagon blood measurements were collected.

Primary Conclusion: Two weeks of CNO-infused (Clozapine-N-oxide) drinking water prevented weight gain and protected against the progressive glucose intolerance observed in control mice on a high-fat diet (HFD).

Curator's Notes

Experimental Design: Double-floxed Rosa-DREADD/L10-EGFP mice (RRID:IMSR_JAX:026220) were fed a high-fat (45%) or low-fat (10%) diet from the time of weaning (3 weeks of age) until completion of the experiment (approx. 5 months of age). At 6 weeks of age, mice received a bilateral injection of the retrograde transported virus AAV6-cre into iBAT. Clozapine-N-oxide (CNO), the synthetic ligand that activates DREADD, was dissolved into the drinking water in order to chronically activate the sympathetic neurons in iBAT.

Completeness: This dataset is a part of a larger study: "Genetically-based neuro-modulation of adipose tissue functions".

Subjects & Samples: Male (n=25) and female (n=30) adult transgenic mice were used in the study.

Primary vs derivative data: Primary data is organized in excel files where all metabolic readings and body composition analysis are presented in tabular form for all animals used in the study. Subject names are shown internally in each table. Subject ID from column A in the subject.xlsx file is incorporated in the different versions of subject names in each excel file with measurements. There is no derivative data.

Important Notes: This dataset is currently undergoing image registration and will be updated once this process is complete.