Yamasaki M, Hasegawa S, Yamanaka H, Narishima R, Fukui T
Department of Health Chemistry, Hoshi University, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Exp Clin Endocrinol Diabetes. 2009 Apr;117(4):170-4. doi: 10.1055/s-0028-1082073. Epub 2008 Oct 1.
Acetoacetyl-CoA synthetase (AACS) is the enzyme responsible for the utilization of ketone bodies for the synthesis of cholesterol and fatty acids and the gene is highly expressed only in the male subcutaneous white adipose tissue (WAT).
This study is to elucidate how AACS is involved in sex-dependent metabolic differences in adipose tissues. To answer this question, we examined the effect of castration on AACS mRNA expression in rat WAT.
Castration did not affect any changes in the level of serum ketone bodies, but it significantly decreased AACS gene expression in subcutaneous WAT. In contrast, expression of the other ketone body utilizing enzyme, succinyl-CoA: 3-oxoacid CoA-transferase (SCOT), did not change. Moreover, the AACS gene was highly expressed in larger-sized adipocytes obtained from rat subcutaneous WAT, and was up-regulated by testosterone in differentiated adipocytes.
Our results suggest that AACS plays male-specific metabolic roles in the regulation of ketone body-utilization for lipogenesis and that sex-specific ketone body-utilization is restricted in subcutaneous WAT.
乙酰乙酰辅酶A合成酶（AACS）是一种负责利用酮体合成胆固醇和脂肪酸的酶，该基因仅在雄性皮下白色脂肪组织（WAT）中高表达。
本研究旨在阐明AACS如何参与脂肪组织中性别依赖性代谢差异。为回答这个问题，我们检测了去势对大鼠WAT中AACS mRNA表达的影响。
去势不影响血清酮体水平的任何变化，但显著降低了皮下WAT中AACS基因的表达。相比之下，另一种利用酮体的酶——琥珀酰辅酶A：3-氧代酸辅酶A转移酶（SCOT）的表达没有变化。此外，AACS基因在从大鼠皮下WAT获得的较大尺寸脂肪细胞中高表达，并在分化的脂肪细胞中被睾酮上调。
我们的结果表明，AACS在调节酮体用于脂肪生成的过程中发挥雄性特异性代谢作用，并且皮下WAT中存在性别特异性的酮体利用限制。
