Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) is expressed predominantly in white and brown adipose tissue where it is believed to play a crucial role in the lipolysis of stored triglycerides (TG), thereby providing the body with energy substrate in the form of free fatty acids (FFA). From in vitro assays, HSL is known to hydrolyze TG, diglycerides (DG), cholesteryl esters, and retinyl esters. In the current study we have generated HSL knock-out mice and demonstrate three lines of evidence that HSL is instrumental in the catabolism of DG in vivo. First, HSL deficiency in mice causes the accumulation of DG in white adipose tissue, brown adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and testis. Second, when tissue extracts were used in an in vitro lipase assay, a reduced FFA release and the accumulation of DG was observed in HSL knock-out mice which did not occur when tissue extracts from control mice were used. Third, in vitro lipolysis experiments with HSL-deficient fat pads demonstrated that the isoproterenol-stimulated release of FFA was decreased and DG accumulated intracellularly resulting in the essential absence of the isoproterenolstimulated glycerol formation typically observed in control fat pads. Additionally, the absence of HSL in white adipose tissue caused a shift of the fatty acid composition of the TG moiety toward increased long chain fatty acids implying a substrate specificity of the enzyme in vivo. From these in vivo results we conclude that HSL is the rate-limiting enzyme for the cellular catabolism of DG in adipose tissue and muscle. Hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL)1 is thought to be a key enzyme for the mobilization of triglycerides (TG) deposited in adipose tissue. Human HSL is composed of 775 amino acids that are encoded by a 2.9-kb mRNA transcribed from a single gene composed of 9 exons (1, 2). The mouse and the human genes are similar in size and share a high degree of sequence homology. A tissue-specific size variation has been observed in testis where an additional exon 13 kb upstream of exon 1 in adipose tissue gives rise to a 3.9-kb mRNA and a 1076-amino acid protein (3). The molecular basis of size variations in HSL mRNA in muscle, macrophages, and ovaries is unknown.HSL-mediated lipolysis is strictly controlled by hormones. The enzyme is activated by catecholamines and other lipolytic hormones upon phosphorylation by the cAMP-dependent protein kinase A and the lipotransin-mediated translocation of the enzyme from the cytoplasm to the lipid droplet (4 -6). Insulin, the major antilipolytic hormone, inhibits HSL through phosphodiesterase-3-dependent cAMP degradation and interference with the lipotransin-mediated enzyme translocation. Accordingly, mice with elevated protein kinase A activity exhibit increased lipolysis and a lean phenotype (7). Absence of perilipin in mice also resulted in leanness through constitutive activation of HSL (8). Conversely, mice that lack the insulin receptor substrate 2 become obese (9). These results imply that imbalances between lipid accumulation and fat mobilizati...

The immediate early gene c-fos is part of the activator protein-1 transcription factor and has been postulated to participate in the molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. To test this hypothesis in vivo, we generated mice with a nervous system-specific c-fos knock-out using the Cre-loxP system. Adult mice lacking c-Fos in the CNS (c-fosDeltaCNS) showed normal general and emotional behavior but were specifically impaired in hippocampus-dependent spatial and associative learning tasks. These learning deficits correlated with a reduction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses. The magnitude of LTP was restored by a repeated tetanization procedure, suggesting impaired LTP induction in c-fosDeltaCNS mice. This rescue was blocked by a selective inhibitor of NR2B-type NMDA receptors. This blockade was compensated in wild-type mice by NR2A-type NMDA receptor-activated signaling pathways, thus indicating that these pathways are compromised in c-fosDeltaCNS mice. In summary, our data suggest a role for c-Fos in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory as well as in NMDA receptor-dependent LTP formation.