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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

Arteriovenous Metabolomics to Measure In Vivo Metabolite Exchange in Brown Adipose Tissue
Published on: October 6, 2023
Sex steroid receptor expression profile in brown adipose tissue. Effects of hormonal status
Sergio Rodriguez-Cuenca1, Marta Monjo, Marga Frontera
1Grup de Metabolisme Energetic i Nutrició, Departament de Biologia Fonamental i Ciències de la Salut, Institut Universitari d' Investigació en Ciencies de la Salut, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Abstract:
Recent investigations suggest that sex hormones play an important role in the brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenic program by acting on several steps of the lipolytic signal cascade and on the UCP1 transcription control. However, the number of studies focusing on steroid receptor status in brown adipose tissue is negligible. In the present study, we analyze steroid receptor mRNA levels in brown adipose tissue in male and female rats and in pregnant and lactating females, all of them models with a different hormonal background. The direct effect of sex hormones on the expression of their receptors was studied in vitro in primary culture of brown adipocytes. Oestrogen receptor (ERalpha) and androgen receptor (AR) densities were higher in male than in female BAT. PR A+B mRNA expression was downregulated in lactation, suggesting a role of progesterone signalling in thermogenesis impairment at this stage. In vitro studies showed that progesterone decreased PR A+B mRNA and that testosterone downregulated ERalpha mRNA. The results highlighted in this study demonstrate the presence of steroid receptor mRNA in BAT and in brown cell cultured adipocytes, supporting the idea that changes in steroid receptor expression would be important for the understanding of sex hormone effects on BAT physiology.
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