Cold exposure induces lipid dynamics and thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue of goats

Background Adaptive thermogenesis by brown adipose tissue (BAT) is important to the maintenance of temperature in newborn mammals. Cold exposure activates gene expression and lipid metabolism to provide energy for BAT thermogenesis. However, knowledge of BAT metabolism in large animals after cold exposure is still limited. Results In this study, we found that cold exposure induced expression of BAT thermogenesis genes and increased the protein levels of UCP1 and PGC1 alpha. Pathway analysis showed that cold exposure activated BAT metabolism, which involved in cGMP-PKG, TCA cycle, fatty acid elongation, and degradation pathways. These were accompanied by decreased triglyceride (TG) content and increased phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) content in BAT. Conclusion These results demonstrate that cold exposure induces metabolites involved in glycerolipids and glycerophospholipids metabolism in BAT. The present study provides evidence for lipid composition associated with adaptive thermogenesis in goat BAT and metabolism pathways regulated by cold exposure.