Quantitative evaluation of the effects of cold exposure of rats on the expression levels of ten FABP isoforms in brown adipose tissue

We quantitatively examined the transcript levels of ten fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) isoforms in the brown adipose tissue (BAT) of rats kept at room temperature and of rats exposed to the cold by Northern blotting using the synthesized RNA of each isoform as an external standard. FABP3–5 were expressed in BAT of both rats maintained at room temperature and those exposed to the cold. FABP4 was the most abundantly expressed isoform, but its transcript level was not significantly affected by cold exposure. FABP3 was slightly expressed in the BAT of rats maintained at room temperature and its transcript level was elevated ten fold by cold exposure. FABP5 was also elevated four fold by cold exposure but the amount of its mRNA in BAT was negligible.