Age-related sex differences in the expression of important disease-linked mitochondrial proteins in mice.

The prevalence and progression of many illnesses, such as neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and cancer, vary between women and men, often in an age-dependent manner. A joint hallmark of these diseases is some type of mitochondrial dysfunction. While several mitochondrial proteins are known to be regulated by sex hormones, the levels of those proteins have not been systematically analyzed with regard to sex and age, and studies that consider sex and/or age differences in the protein expression are very rare.

Important Trends in UCP3 Investigation.

Membrane uncoupling protein 3 (UCP3), a member of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein family, was discovered in 1997. UCP3's properties, such as its high homology to other mitochondrial carriers, especially to UCP2, its short lifetime and low specificity of UCP3 antibodies, have hindered progress in understanding its biological function and transport mechanism over decades. The abundance of UCP3 is highest in murine brown adipose tissue (BAT, 15.

The Expression of Uncoupling Protein 3 Coincides With the Fatty Acid Oxidation Type of Metabolism in Adult Murine Heart.

The involvement of mitochondrial uncoupling proteins 2 and 3 in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases is widely acknowledged. However, contradictory reports show that the functions of UCP2/UCP3 are still disputed. We have previously described that UCP2 is highly abundant in cells that rely on glycolysis, such as stem, cancer and activated immune cells.

The expression of UCP3 directly correlates to UCP1 abundance in brown adipose tissue.

UCP1 and UCP3 are members of the uncoupling protein (UCP) subfamily and are localized in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Whereas UCP1's central role in non-shivering thermogenesis is acknowledged, the function and even tissue expression pattern of UCP3 are still under dispute. Because UCP3 properties regarding transport of protons are qualitatively identical to those of UCP1, its expression in brown adipose tissue (BAT) alongside UCP1 requires justification.

Uncoupling protein 2 and 4 expression pattern during stem cell differentiation provides new insight into their putative function.

Apart from the first family member, uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), the functions of other UCPs (UCP2-UCP5) are still unknown. In analyzing our own results and those previously published by others, we have assumed that UCP's cellular expression pattern coincides with a specific cell metabolism and changes if the latter is altered. To verify this hypothesis, we analyzed the expression of UCP1-5 in mouse embryonic stem cells before and after their differentiation to neurons.

Quantification of uncoupling protein 2 reveals its main expression in immune cells and selective up-regulation during T-cell proliferation.

Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is an inner mitochondrial membrane protein. Although the protein was discovered in 1997, its function and even its tissue distribution are still under debate. Here we present a quantitative analysis of mRNA and protein expression in various mice tissues, revealing that UCP2 is mainly expressed in organs and cells associated with the immune system.