RNA-seq Analysis Reveals Potential Synergic Effects of Acetate and Cold Exposure on Interscapular Brown Adipose Tissue in Mice

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Our study aims to understand the impact of acetate intervention at the systemic level before a short period of cold exposure on brown adipose tissue in mice. The results show that acetate may demonstrate a synergistic effect with cold exposure to induce obvious transcriptional changes in brown adipose tissue. These analyses provided novel evidence for understanding the regulatory effects of acetate on brown adipose tissue and highlighted its potential for obesity treatment. ABSTRACT: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) exhibits remarkable morphological and functional plasticity in response to environmental (e.g., cold exposure) and nutrient (e.g., high-fat diet) stimuli. Notably, a number of studies have showed that acetate, the main fermentation product of dietary fiber in gut, profoundly influences the differentiation and activity of BAT. However, the potential synergic or antagonistic effects of acetate and cold exposure on BAT have not been well examined. In the present study, the C57BL/6J mice were treated with acetate at the systemic level before a short period of cold exposure. Physiological parameters including body weight, blood glucose, and Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER) were monitored, and thermal imaging of body surface temperature was captured. Moreover, the transcriptome profiles of interscapular BAT were also determined and analyzed afterwards. The obtained results showed that acetate treatment prior to cold exposure could alter the gene expression profile, as evidenced by significant differential clusters between the two groups. GO analysis and KEGG analysis further identified differentially expressed genes being mainly enriched for a number of biological terms and pathways related to lipid metabolism and brown adipose activity such as “G-protein-coupled receptor activity”, “cAMP metabolic process”, “PPAR signaling pathway”, and “FoxO signaling pathway”. GSEA analysis further suggested that activation status of key pathways including “PPAR signaling pathway” and “TCA cycle” were altered upon acetate treatment. Taken together, our study identified the potential synergistic effect of acetic acid with cold exposure on BAT, which highlighted the positive dietary and therapeutic aspects of acetate.