Dapagliflozin, a Sodium-Glucose Co-Transporter 2 Inhibitor, Acutely Reduces Energy Expenditure in BAT via Neural Signals in Mice

PLoS One. 2016 Mar 10;11(3):e0150756. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0150756. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Selective sodium glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) treatment promotes urinary glucose excretion, thereby reducing blood glucose as well as body weight. However, only limited body weight reductions are achieved with SGLT2i treatment. Hyperphagia is reportedly one of the causes of this limited weight loss. However, the effects of SGLT2i treatment on systemic energy expenditure have not been fully elucidated. Herein, we investigated the acute effects of dapagliflozin, a SGLT2i, on systemic energy expenditure in mice. Eighteen hours after dapagliflozin treatment oxygen consumption and brown adipose tissue (BAT) expression of ucp1, a thermogenesis-related gene, were significantly decreased as compared to those after vehicle treatment. In addition, dapagliflozin significantly suppressed norepinephrine (NE) turnover in BAT and c-fos expression in the rostral raphe pallidus nucleus (rRPa) which contains the sympathetic premotor neurons responsible for thermogenesis. These findings indicate that the dapagliflozin-mediated acute decrease in energy expenditure involves a reduction in BAT thermogenesis via decreased sympathetic nerve activity from the rRPa. Furthermore, common hepatic branch vagotomy abolished the reductions in ucp1 expression and NE contents in BAT and c-fos expression in the rRPa. In addition, alterations in hepatic carbohydrate metabolism, such as decreases in glycogen contents and upregulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, manifested prior to the suppression of BAT thermogenesis, e.g. 6 hours after dapagliflozin treatment. Collectively, these results suggest that SGLT2i treatment acutely suppresses energy expenditure in BAT via regulation of an inter-organ neural network consisting of the common hepatic vagal branch and sympathetic nerves.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adipose Tissue, Brown / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Benzhydryl Compounds / pharmacology*
  • Carbohydrate Metabolism / drug effects
  • Energy Metabolism / drug effects*
  • Gene Expression Regulation / drug effects
  • Glucosides / pharmacology*
  • Glycogen / metabolism
  • Ion Channels / biosynthesis
  • Liver / metabolism
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Midbrain Raphe Nuclei / metabolism
  • Mitochondrial Proteins / biosynthesis
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / biosynthesis
  • Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2 / metabolism
  • Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2 Inhibitors*
  • Synaptic Transmission / drug effects*
  • Thermogenesis / drug effects*
  • Uncoupling Protein 1
  • Vagus Nerve / metabolism

Substances

  • Benzhydryl Compounds
  • Glucosides
  • Ion Channels
  • Mitochondrial Proteins
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
  • Slc5a2 protein, mouse
  • Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2
  • Sodium-Glucose Transporter 2 Inhibitors
  • Ucp1 protein, mouse
  • Uncoupling Protein 1
  • dapagliflozin
  • Glycogen

Grants and funding

This work was supported by: Tetsuya Yamada (26293215) and Hideki Katagiri (25253067), Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-grants/index.html). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision of publish, or preparation of the manuscript.