Exploratory Studies on Biomarkers: An Example Study on Brown Adipose Tissue

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  • Watanabe Masahiro
    Institute for Genome Research, University of Tokushima Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokushima
  • Yamazaki Naoshi
    Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokushima
  • Kataoka Masatoshi
    Health Technology Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
  • Shinohara Yasuo
    Institute for Genome Research, University of Tokushima Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Tokushima

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  • バイオマーカーの探索：褐色脂肪組織に関する研究事例
  • バイオマーカー ノ タンサク カッショク シボウ ソシキ ニ カンスル ケンキュウ ジレイ

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In mammals, two kinds of adipose tissue are known to exist, i.e., white (WAT) and brown (BAT) adipose tissue. The physiological role of WAT is storage of excess energy as fat, whereas that of BAT is the expenditure of excess energy as heat. The uncoupling protein UCP1, which is specifically expressed in brown fat mitochondria, dissipates the proton electrochemical potential across the inner mitochondrial membrane, known as a driving force of ATP synthesis, and thus it dissipates excess energy in a form of heat. Because deficiency in effective expenditure of excess energy causes accumulation of this energy in the form of fat (i.e., obesity), it is very important to understand the energy metabolism in this tissue for the development of anti-obesity drugs. In this article, in addition to providing a brief introduction to the functional properties of BAT and UCP1, the results of our exploratory studies on protein components involved in the energy-dissipating function in BAT.

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