Fig. 1.

(a) Reduced weight and weight gain in Aldh1a1^−/− (KO) vs. WT mice that were fed HF diet for 14 months (Study 1). Here and throughout this figure: *, Asterisk, – significant differences between WT and KO adipocytes (P < 0.05, Mann-Whitney U test). (b) Similar weight of brown fat pads, but significantly reduced weight in white fat depots, visceral (peri-ovarian) and subcutaneous (inguinal) in KO vs. WT mice from same study. (c) mRNA expression of Fabp4, Prdm16, Cox4i1, Pgc1α, and Ucp1 in visceral fat of WT and KO mice was measured by TaqMan. (c) Ucp1 protein levels in visceral fat of KO and WT mice were measured by western blot (all n = 4, mean ± SD). Protein levels were normalized to β-tubulin for quantification. Insert (above) showed one representative western blot comparing Ucp1 protein levels in WT brown fat with visceral fat isolated from WT and KO mice. (e) Representative Ucp1 staining (brown staining, examples of Ucp1 staining are indicated by arrows) of paraffin embedded visceral fat from WT and KO mouse groups at 10×. Selected areas with Ucp1-positive staining are shown at 40× magnification. (f) mRNA expression of Fabp4, Cox4i1, Pgc1α, Ucp1, and Ucp3 was measured by TaqMan in KO and WT fibroblasts cell lines stably transfected with GFP (^GKO, ^GWT). Fibroblasts were differentiated for 7 d after stimulation with adipogenesis-inducing hormone mix. Data are shown as mean ± SD (n = 3). *, – significant differences between ^GWT and ^GKO adipocytes (P < 0.05, Mann-Whitney U test).