Triacylglycerols (triglycerides) (TGs) are the major storage molecules of metabolic energy and FAs in most living organisms. Excessive accumulation of TGs, however, is associated with human diseases, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, and steatohepatitis. The final and the only committed step in the biosynthesis of TGs is catalyzed by acylCoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) enzymes. The genes encoding two DGAT enzymes, DGAT1 and DGAT2, were identified in the past decade, and the use of molecular tools, including mice deficient in either enzyme, has shed light on their functions. Although DGAT enzymes are involved in TG synthesis, they have distinct protein sequences and differ in their biochemical, cellular, and physiological functions. Both enzymes may be useful as therapeutic targets for diseases. Here we review the current knowledge of DGAT enzymes, focusing on new advances since the cloning of their genes, including possible roles in human health and diseases.-Yen, C-L. E., S. J. Stone, S. Koliwad, C. Harris, and R. V. Farese, Jr. DGAT enzymes and triacylglycerol biosynthesis. J. Lipid Res. 2008. 49: 2283-2301. Supplementary key words triacylglycerolsTriacylglycerols (triglycerides) (TGs), a major type of neutral lipid, are a heterogeneous group of molecules with a glycerol backbone and three FAs attached by ester bonds. The physical and chemical properties of TG differ based on chain length and the degree to which their FAs are desaturated. TGs serve multiple important functions in living organisms. Chief among these, they are the major storage molecules of FA for energy utilization and the synthesis of membrane lipids. Because they are highly reduced and anhydrous, TGs store 6-fold more energy than the same amount of hydrated glycogen (1). In plants, TGs are a major component of seed oils, which are valuable resources for dietary consumption and industrial uses. TG from plants and microorganisms can also be used for biofuels. In animals, energy stores of TG are concentrated primarily in adipocytes, although TGs are also found prominently in myocytes, hepatocytes, enterocytes, and mammary epithelial cells. In addition to energy storage, TG synthesis in cells may protect them from the potentially toxic effects of excess FA. In the enterocytes and hepatocytes of most mammals, TGs are synthesized for the assembly and secretion of lipoproteins, which transport dietary and endogenously synthesized FA between tissues. Also, TGs in secreted lipids acts as a component of the skinʼs surface water barrier, and collections of TG in adipose tissue provide insulation for organisms.Although TGs are essential for normal physiology, the excessive accumulation of TG in human adipose tissue results in obesity and, in nonadipose tissues, is associated with organ dysfunction. For example, excessive TG deposition in skeletal muscle and the liver is associated with insulin resistance, in the liver with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and in the heart with cardiomyopathy (2, 3). Owing to worldwide increases in the p...

Diets rich in saturated fat produce inflammation, gliosis, and neuronal stress in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH). Here we show that microglia mediate this process and its functional impact. Although microglia and astrocytes accumulate in the MBH of mice fed a diet rich in saturated fatty acids (SFAs), only the microglia undergo inflammatory activation, along with a build-up of hypothalamic SFAs. Enteric gavage specifically with SFAs reproduces microglial activation and neuronal stress in the MBH, and SFA treatment activates murine microglia, but not astrocytes, in culture. Moreover, depleting microglia abrogates SFA-induced inflammation in hypothalamic slices. Remarkably, depleting microglia from the MBH of mice abolishes inflammation and neuronal stress induced by excess SFA consumption, and in this context, microglial depletion enhances leptin signaling and reduces food intake. We thus show that microglia sense SFAs and orchestrate an inflammatory process in the MBH that alters neuronal function when SFA consumption is high.

SUMMARY Dietary excess triggers accumulation of pro-inflammatory microglia in the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH), but the components of this microgliosis and its metabolic consequences remain uncertain. Here, we show that microglial inflammatory signaling determines the immunologic response of the MBH to dietary excess and regulates hypothalamic control of energy homeostasis in mice. Either pharmacologically depleting microglia or selectively restraining microglial NF-κB-dependent signaling sharply reduced microgliosis, an effect that includes prevention of MBH entry by bone-marrow-derived myeloid cells, and greatly limited diet-induced hyperphagia and weight gain. Conversely, forcing microglial activation through cell-specific deletion of the negative NF-κB regulator A20 induced spontaneous MBH microgliosis and cellular infiltration, reduced energy expenditure, and increased both food intake and weight gain even in absence of a dietary challenge. Thus, microglial inflammatory activation, stimulated by dietary excess, orchestrates a multicellular hypothalamic response that mediates obesity susceptibility, providing a mechanistic rationale for non-neuronal approaches to treat metabolic diseases.

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SUMMARY Triglyceride (TG) storage in adipose tissue provides the major reservoir for metabolic energy in mammals. During lipolysis, fatty acids (FAs) are hydrolyzed from adipocyte TG stores and transported to other tissues for fuel. For unclear reasons, a large portion of hydrolyzed FAs in adipocytes is re-esterified to TGs in a “futile”, ATP-consuming, energy dissipating cycle. Here we show that FA re-esterification during adipocyte lipolysis is mediated by DGAT1, an ER-localized DGAT enzyme. Surprisingly, this re-esterification cycle does not preserve TG mass, but instead functions to protect the ER from lipotoxic stress and related consequences, such as adipose tissue inflammation. Our data reveal an important role for DGAT activity and TG synthesis generally in averting ER stress and lipotoxicity, with specifically DGAT1 performing this function during stimulated lipolysis in adipocytes.

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SUMMARY Diets rich in saturated fatty acids (SFAs) produce a form of tissue inflammation driven by “metabolically activated” macrophages. We show that SFAs, when in excess, induce a unique transcriptional signature in both mouse and human macrophages that is enriched for a subset of ER stress markers, particularly IRE1α and many adaptive downstream target genes. SFAs also activate the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages, resulting in IL-1β secretion. We found that IRE1α mediates SFA-induced IL-1β secretion by macrophages, and that its activation by SFAs does not rely on unfolded protein sensing. We show instead that the ability of SFAs to stimulate either IRE1α activation or IL-1β secretion can be specifically reduced by preventing their flux into phosphatidylcholine (PC) or by increasing unsaturated PC levels. IRE1α is thus an unrecognized intracellular PC sensor critical to the process by which SFAs stimulate macrophages to secrete IL-1β, a driver of diet-induced tissue inflammation.

Diet-induced obesity leads to devastating and common chronic diseases, fueling ongoing interest in determining new mechanisms underlying both obesity and its consequences. It is now well known that chronic overnutrition produces a unique form of inflammation in peripheral insulin target tissues, and efforts to limit this inflammation have met with some success in preserving insulin sensitivity in obese individuals. Recently, the activation of inflammatory pathways by dietary excess has also been observed among cells located in the mediobasal hypothalamus, a brain area that exerts central control over peripheral glucose, fat, and energy metabolism. Here we review progress in the field of diet-induced hypothalamic inflammation, drawing key distinctions between metabolic inflammation in the hypothalamus and that occurring in peripheral tissues. We focus on specific stimuli of the inflammatory response, the roles of individual hypothalamic cell types, and the links between hypothalamic inflammation and metabolic function under normal and pathophysiological circumstances. Finally, we explore the concept of controlling hypothalamic inflammation to mitigate metabolic disease.