CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

It is known that cold-exposure induces beigeadipocyte generation in white adiposetissue (AT) depots. We previously describedthat androgen (A) addition on adipocyte precursor cells (APCs) in cultureinhibited thermogenic capacity of newly differentiated adipocytes. Now,we aim to explore if the in vivo absenceof A affects ex vivo beige adipocytegeneration and the browning potential of white AT after cold stimulation. Forthese purposes, we used the following groups of S-D male rats: control (CTR),bilaterally orchidectomized on age 27 days (ODX) and pair fed controls (CTR-PF,equal caloric intake as ODX group). Firstly, APCs were isolated from inguinalAT (IAT) and retroperitoneal AT (RPAT) from different groups and cultured witha pro-beige cocktail. On day 8 post-differentiation, beige adipocyte markers (UCP-1,PGC1α, PRDM16) were measured by RT-qPCR. We found anincrease in UCP-1 (p <0.001), PGC1α (p <0.01) and PRDM16 (p <0.01) in differentiatedadipocytes from IAT and enhancement in UCP-1 and PRDM-16 in RPAT cells (p<0.05) from ODX rats. Secondly (invivo experiment), 60 day-old rats were kept for 7 days at either room temperature(RT) or 4°C (CTR, CTR-PF, ODX and CTR-C, CTR-PF-C, ODX-C, respectively). IATand RPAT were then isolated for subsequent measurement of thermogenic genes (UCP-1,PGC1α and ARβ3 mRNAs). We found that IAT and RPAT UCP-1expressionwas elevated in ODX rats at RT and cold-stimulated conditions, and this was accompaniedby an increase in PGC1α, although no change in ARβ3. We conclude that theendogenous A milieu (ODX) primes isolated APCs for further thermogenicactivity. Moreover, ODX improved browning potential in cold-stimulatedcondition, mainly through an increase in cell thermogenesis markers, regardlessof the AT depot. Thus, our study supports the notion that androgens inhibit ATthermogenesis.