The futile creatine cycle and the synthesis of fatty acids in inguinal white adipose tissue from growing rats, submitted to a hypoprotein-hyperglycidic diet for 15 days

The low-protein, high-carbohydrate (LPHC) diet administered to growing rats soon after weaning, for 15 days, promoted an increase in energy expenditure by uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) in interscapular brown adipose tissue, and also due to the occurrence of the browning process in the perirenal white adipose tissue (periWAT). However, we believe that inguinal white adipose tissue (ingWAT) may also contribute to energy expenditure through other mechanisms. Therefore, the aim of this work is to investigate the presence of the futile creatine cycle, and the origin of lipids in ingWAT, since that tissue showed an increase in the lipids content in rats submitted to the LPHC diet for 15 days. We observed increases in creatine kinase and alkaline phosphatase activity in ingWAT, of the LPHC animals. The mitochondrial Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide reduced/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide oxidized ratio is lower in ingWAT of LPHC animals. In the LPHC animals treated with β-guanidinopropionic acid, the extracellular uptake of creatine in ingWAT was lower, as was the rectal temperature. Regarding lipid metabolism, we observed that in ingWAT, lipolysis in vitro when stimulated with noradrenaline is lower, and there were no changes in baseline levels. In addition, increases in the activity of enzymes were also observed: malic, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and ATP-citrate lyase, in addition to an increase in the PPARγ content. The results show the occurrence of the futile creatine cycle in ingWAT, and that the increase in the relative mass may be due to an increase in de novo fatty acid synthesis.