Figure 2

Mitochondrial density declines during brown to white adipose transformation. (A) Total DNA was isolated from perirenal adipose tissues and analyzed by qPCR with primers specific for mtDNA (cytochrome c oxidase I (MT-CO1)) and nDNA (suppression of tumorigenicity 7 (ST7)). The relative mtDNA copy number was obtained as the ratio of MT-CO1 to ST7 levels. (B) Total RNA was isolated from perirenal adipose tissue and used for RT-qPCR analysis. Relative expression was measured for citrate synthase (CS). The mRNA expression levels were normalized to expression of β-actin (ACTB). (C) Enzyme activity (U) of CS was determined spectrophotometrically in homogenates of perirenal adipose tissue and normalized to protein content. (D) Relative expression of cytochrome c1 (CYC1) was measured by RT-qPCR as described in panel B. Data are mean + SEM (n = 4–5); *, p < 0.05 vs. day 0.