Repeated activation of the beta 3 adrenergic receptor (β3AR) with the agonist CL 316,243 (CL) results in remodeling of white adipose tissue (WAT) characterized by increased mitochondrial enzymes and expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). β3AR activation also has profound acute metabolic effects including rapidly decreasing blood glucose, secondary to fatty acid-induced increases in insulin, and increasing energy expenditure. The acute (single dose) effects of β3AR activation have largely been examined in treatment naive animals and under room temperature housing conditions. The current study examined if repeated CL treatment would lead to an attenuation of acute metabolic effects of CL treatment under thermoneutral housing conditions and if this could be rescued with cilostamide, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor. We provide evidence demonstrating that the acute effects of CL to increase serum fatty acids and insulin and reduce blood glucose, but not increases in energy expenditure, are attenuated in mice following repeated treatment with CL. This occurs in parallel with reductions in indices of protein kinase A signaling in WAT including the phosphorylation of hormone sensitive lipase. The findings of attenuated serum fatty acid, insulin, and blood glucose responses were confirmed in both high-fat fed and UCP1-/- mice repeatedly treated with CL. Desensitization to CL in mice was rescued by cilostamide. Herein, we provide evidence that the glucose lowering, but not thermogenesis inducing, effects of CL are attenuated with repeated treatment and can be rescued by cilostamide. The findings of this study point toward novel adjunct treatment approaches that could be used to maximize therapeutic, glucose lowering effects of β3AR agonists.
Keywords: CL 316,243; UCP1; adipose tissue; cilostamide; fatty acids; insulin; mitochondria, thermogenesis; obesity.
© 2022 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society.