UCP1 is an essential mediator of the effects of methionine restriction on energy balance but not insulin sensitivity.
Wanders D1, Burk DH1, Cortez CC1, Van NT1, Stone KP1, Baker M1, Mendoza T1, Mynatt RL1, Gettys TW
FASEB J. 2015 Mar 5. pii: fj.14-270348. [Epub ahead of print]
Dietary methionine restriction (MR) by 80% increases energy expenditure (EE), reduces adiposity, and improves insulin sensitivity. We propose that the MR-induced increase in EE limits fat deposition by increasing sympathetic nervous system-dependent remodeling of white adipose tissue and increasing uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) expression in both white and brown adipose tissue. In independent assessments of the role of UCP1 as a mediator of MR’s effects on EE and insulin sensitivity, EE did not differ between wild-type (WT) and Ucp1-/- mice on the control diet, but MR increased EE by 31% and reduced adiposity by 25% in WT mice. In contrast, MR failed to increase EE or reduce adiposity in Ucp1-/- mice. However, MR was able to increase overall insulin sensitivity by 2.2-fold in both genotypes. Housing temperatures used to minimize (28°C) or increase (23°C) sympathetic nervous system activity revealed temperature-independent effects of the diet on EE. Metabolomics analysis showed that genotypic and dietary effects on white adipose tissue remodeling resulted in profound increases in fatty acid metabolism within this tissue.
These findings establish that UCP1 is required for the MR-induced increase in EE but not insulin sensitivity and suggest that diet-induced improvements in insulin sensitivity are not strictly derived from dietary effects on energy balance. UCP1 is an essential mediator of the effects of methionine restriction on energy balance but not insulin sensitivity.
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Humphry Fortescue Osmond (1917-2004), a radical and conventional psychiatrist: The transcendent years.
Abstract
This article describes the life and work of the psychiatrist Humphry Osmond who pursued a radical path as a psychiatrist while he remained within the establishment. To the public mind however, he is best known as the man who introduced Aldous Huxley to mescaline and coined the iconic word psychedelic. From an early stage of his career, Henry Osmond embraced new ideas to break the nexus in psychiatry at a time when neither biological nor psychoanalytic treatments were shown to have much benefit. To do this, he joined the radical social experiment in health in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan where he initiated a range of innovations that attracted international attention, as well as controversy over his espousal of the use of hallucinogens better to understand the experiences of psychotic patients.
