Temperature modulates systemic and central actions of thyroid hormones on BAT thermogenesis

Eva Rial-Pensado; Verónica Rivas-Limeres; Carmen Grijota-Martínez; Amanda Rodríguez-Díaz; Valentina Capelli; Olga Barca-Mayo; Rubén Nogueiras; Jens Mittag; Carlos Diéguez; Miguel López

doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.1017381

Temperature modulates systemic and central actions of thyroid hormones on BAT thermogenesis

Front Physiol. 2022 Nov 18:13:1017381. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.1017381. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Eva Rial-Pensado^{1

2}, Verónica Rivas-Limeres^{1

2}, Carmen Grijota-Martínez^{3

4}, Amanda Rodríguez-Díaz^{1

2}, Valentina Capelli^{1

2}, Olga Barca-Mayo¹, Rubén Nogueiras^{1

2}, Jens Mittag⁵, Carlos Diéguez^{1

2}, Miguel López^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physiology, CIMUS, University of Santiago de Compostela- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
² CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), Madrid, Spain.
³ Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Biology, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Alberto Sols Biomedical Research Institute (CSIC-UAM), Madrid, Spain.
⁵ Institute for Endocrinology and Diabetes-Molecular Endocrinology, Center of Brain Behavior and Metabolism CBBM, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.

Abstract

Thyroid hormones (THs) play a major role regulating energy balance and brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis, as well as body temperature, as shown in hyperthyroid patients. However, the current landscape of preclinical thyroid hormone models is complex. For example, while rats become catabolic after TH administration, mice gain weight; so, these differences in species need to be analyzed in detail and specially whether temperature could be a factor. Here, we aimed to investigate the effect of environmental temperature on those actions. Rats were subcutaneously treated with L-thyroxine (T4) or stereotaxically within the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) with triiodothyronine (T3) and housed at 23°C, 4°C or 30°C; energy balance, BAT thermogenesis and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the VMH were analyzed. Our data showed that the effect of both systemic T4 of central T3 on energy balance and BAT thermogenesis was dependent upon environmental temperature. This evidence is of interest in the design of experimental settings highlighting the species-specific metabolic actions of THs, and in understanding its physiological role in the adaptation to temperature.

Keywords: AMPK; brown adipose tissue; hypothalamus; temperature; thermogenesis; thyroid hormones.