Requirement for the heart-type fatty acid binding protein in cardiac fatty acid utilization

Item Type:	Article
Title:	Requirement for the heart-type fatty acid binding protein in cardiac fatty acid utilization
Creators Name:	Binas, B. and Danneberg, H. and McWhir, J. and Mullins, L. and Clark, A.J.
Abstract:	Nonenzymatic cytosolic fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) are abundantly expressed in many animal tissues with high rates of fatty acid metabolism. No physiological role has been demonstrated for any FABP, although these proteins have been implicated in transport of free long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) and protection against LCFA toxicity. We report here that mice lacking heart-type FABP (H-FABP) exhibit a severe defect of peripheral (nonhepatic, non-fat) LCFA utilization. In these mice, the heart is unable to efficiently take up plasma LCFAs, which are normally its main fuel, and switches to glucose usage. Altered plasma levels of LCFAs, glucose, lactate and beta-hydroxybutyrate are consistent with depressed peripheral LCFA utilization, intensified carbohydrate usage, and increased hepatic LCFA oxidation; these changes are most pronounced under conditions favoring LCFA oxidation. H-FABP deficiency is only incompletely compensated, however, causing acute exercise intolerance and, at old age, a localized cardiac hypertrophy. These data establish a requirement for H-FABP in cardiac intracellular lipid transport and fuel selection and a major role in metabolic homeostasis. This new animal model should be particularly useful for investigating the significance of peripheral LCFA utilization for heart function, insulin sensitivity, and blood pressure.
Keywords:	Metabolism, Heart, Hypertrophy, Gene Targeting, Animals, Mice
Source:	FASEB Journal
ISSN:	0892-6638
Publisher:	Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Volume:	13
Number:	8
Page Range:	805-812
Date:	May 1999
Official Publication:	http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/13/8/805
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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