A role for uncoupling protein (UCP) 3 in fatty acid metabolism is reviewed within the context of our proposal, first put forward in 1998, that this homologue of UCP1 may be involved in the regulation of lipids as fuel substrate rather than in the mediation of thermogenesis. Since then, the demonstrations of muscle-type differences in UCP3 gene regulation in response to dietary manipulations (starvation, high-fat feeding) or to pharmacological interferences with the flux of lipid substrates between adipose-tissue stores and skeletal-muscle mitochondrial oxidation are all in accord with this proposed role for UCP3 in regulating lipids as fuel substrate. However, given the current limitations of gene-knockout technology for evaluating/interpreting the functional importance of genes encoding mitochondrial membrane proteins, the transition from ‘associative’ to ‘cause-and-effect’ evidence for a physiological role of UCP3 in regulating fatty acid metabolism will have to await the development of assays that are sensitive to changes in UCP3 activity. Furthermore, in evaluating the physiological regulators of UCP3, the available evidence points to the existence of adipose-derived factor(s) which, independently of circulating levels of free fatty acids, initiates events leading to the transcription of genes encoding UCP3 and key enzymes of lipid oxidation in the fast glycolytic or fast oxidative-glycolytic muscles, i.e. in the bulk of the skeletal-muscle mass. It is proposed that in tissues where UCP3 co-exists with UCP2 (skeletal muscle, brown adipose tissue, heart) they may act in concert in the overall regulation of lipid oxidation, concomitant to the prevention of lipid-induced oxidative damage.
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Conference Article|
November 01 2001
Uncoupling protein 3 and fatty acid metabolism
A. G. Dulloo;
A. G. Dulloo
1
*Institute of Physiology, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, Rue du Musée 5, CH-1700 Fríbourg, Switzerland
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (e-mail abdul.dulloo@unifr.ch).
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S. Samec;
S. Samec
*Institute of Physiology, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, Rue du Musée 5, CH-1700 Fríbourg, Switzerland
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J. Seydoux
J. Seydoux
†Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
June 22 2001
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© 2001 Biochemical Society
2001
Biochem Soc Trans (2001) 29 (6): 785–791.
Article history
Received:
June 22 2001
Citation
A. G. Dulloo, S. Samec, J. Seydoux; Uncoupling protein 3 and fatty acid metabolism. Biochem Soc Trans 1 November 2001; 29 (6): 785–791. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/bst0290785
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