【Animal Modeling】-Effect of low temperature and low pressure environment on the formation of brown adipose tissue in mice

  Objective: To explore the effect of low temperature and low pressure environment on brown adipose tissue in mice.

  METHODS: Twenty-four 6-week-old adult male C57BL/6 N mice with uniform individual health were selected and divided into 4 groups, with 6 mice in each group. ), normal temperature and low pressure (18~22℃, 5000 m above sea level), normal pressure and low temperature (0~6℃, 20~60 m above sea level), low temperature and low pressure (0~6℃, 5000 m above sea level). The experimental period was 4 weeks. The body weight of each mouse was measured at the beginning and the end of the experiment. After the experiment, the back and inguinal fat of the experimental mice were completely removed, and the back and inguinal adipose tissues were stained with HE. The brown fat marker UCP-1 was used to measure the molecular expression of qPCR and the protein expression of western blot.

  Results: The weight gain of the mice in the hypothermic and low pressure, low temperature and normal pressure, and normal temperature and low pressure groups was significantly lower than that of the normal control group; The adipose tissue morphology of the normal pressure group was larger than that of the other groups; the staining results showed that the dorsal adipocytes of the mice were filled with multiple fat vesicles, and the cells were smaller and darker, and were typical brown adipocytes in shape; The brown adipose marker UCP-1 in rat dorsal adipose tissue was highly expressed at the mRNA and protein levels, and only up-regulated at the mRNA level under low pressure conditions.

  Conclusion: The low temperature and low pressure conditions that simulate the high altitude environment have a stimulating effect on the formation of brown adipose tissue in mice, and this effect is more related to the decrease of temperature.