‘Uncoupling in skeletal muscle: an animal model for healthy ageing?’
Prof. Susanne Klaus
German Institute of Human Nutrition
co-referee
Prof. Jaap Keijer
Human and Animal Physiology Group
Uncoupling protein 1 (UCP-1) is uniquely expressed in brown adipose tissue and uncouples mitochondrial ATP production to generate heat. The uncoupling function of UCP-1 was used to better understand the functional consequences of mitochondrial uncoupling. For this, UCP-1 was ectopically expressed in mouse muscle. The generated HSA-mUCP-1 mice were extensively physiologically characterized (body composition, energy assimilation, metabolic rate, insulin sensitivity, life span, oxidative stress). The results indicate that skeletal muscle mitochondrial uncoupling delays ageing as well as diet associated deterioration in metabolic health, leading to a “healthy ageing phenotype”.
Zodiac academic lectures are an initiative of the Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University. On every first Tuesday of the month, an invited speaker will present a topic related to animal sciences. Speaker and topic will, and are meant to, provoke discussion among the audience of staff, postdocs, PhD and MSc students, and guests.