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Low Sirt1 expression, which is upregulated by fasting, in human adipose tissue from obese women

International Journal of Obesity volume 32, pages 1250–1255 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

Calorie restriction increases the life span in a number of different organisms. This effect is dependent upon activation of the Sirt1 enzyme, and many of the beneficial effects of calorie restriction can be mimicked using resveratrol, which activates the Sirt1 enzyme. Nothing is known about this system in human adipose tissue; therefore, we investigated this system in human adipose tissue.

Design:

Sirt1 mRNA was measured in adipose tissue biopsies from human volunteers before and after 6 days of total fasting. In addition, adipose tissue from lean and obese individuals was compared and in vitro investigations were performed.

Results:

Long-term total fasting (6 days) of nine human volunteers increased Sirt1 mRNA expression in subcutaneous adipose tissue more than twofold (0.197–0.454 arbitrary units, P<0.05). Likewise, lean women (n=12) had more than twofold higher Sirt1 expression in subcutaneous adipose tissue compared to obese women (n=12; 0.33–0.73 arbitrary units, P<0.05). Sirt1 was equally expressed in the stroma-vascular fraction and the isolated adipocyte fraction. Finally, in vitro, we demonstrated that resveratrol (a Sirt1 activator) significantly enhanced the lipolytic effect of epinephrine in human adipose tissue (P<0.05).

Conclusion:

Human adipose tissue contains Sirt1 and the expression of Sirt1 can be regulated by calorie restriction as in other species. Furthermore, we demonstrated that resveratrol affects human fat-cell metabolism similar to the effects in rodents (that is, increased epinephrine induced lipolysis). These findings indicated that the beneficial effects of calorie restriction in humans might involve the activation of Sirt1. Thus, based on these findings, we propose that Sirt1 might play important roles for the beneficial effects of calorie restriction in humans.

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Acknowledgements

The expert technical assistance of Lenette Pedersen and Pia Hornbek is appreciated. The study was part of the DanORC consortium. DanOrc is supported by the Danish Council for Strategic Research. The study was supported by grants from the NovoNordisk Foundation, The Danish Medical Research Council and the Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark

    S B Pedersen & B Richelsen

  2. Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism C, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus Sygehus, Aarhus C, Denmark

    S B Pedersen, J Ølholm, S K Paulsen, M F Bennetzen & B Richelsen

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  1. S B Pedersen
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  2. J Ølholm
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  3. S K Paulsen
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Correspondence to S B Pedersen.

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Pedersen, S., Ølholm, J., Paulsen, S. et al. Low Sirt1 expression, which is upregulated by fasting, in human adipose tissue from obese women. Int J Obes 32, 1250–1255 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2008.78

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