Triiodothyronine and adipose conversion of OB17 preadipocytes : binding to high affinity sites and effects on fatty acid synthetizing and esterifying enzymes.

Cells of a preadipocyte clonal line (ob 17) isolated from epididymal fat pad of ob/ob mouse possess high-affinity binding sites for triiodothyronine. A single class of sites was found on growing and early confluent cells (KD 0.14 +/- 0.025 nM ; 5,000 +/- 600 sites per cell). A two-fold increase in the number if T3 binding sites occurs during adipose conversion, with no significant change in KD values. The order of potency of structural analogs to compete with 125I-T3 is in favor of nuclear binding sites. A correlation was obtained 3 between this order of potency and the ability of the analogs, included on a long-term basis to confluent cells, to increase 14 C-acetate incorporation into lipids, suggesting an enhancement of de novo fatty acid synthesis, This hypothesis was supported by increased activity levels of fatty acid synthetase after chronic exposure to 1.5 nM triiodothyronine. Under these conditions activity levels of acid:CoA ligase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase were also increased significantly. Inclusion of bromodeoxyuridine as a differentiation-blocking agent in the culture medium of growing cells decreases drastically the T3 effects, favoring the role of the latter hormone as amplifier of specific phenotypes expressed during adipose conversion. These results show that ob17 cell line should be an useful tool to study the role of thyroid hormones in the regulation of fatty acid synthesis and esterification in adipose cells.