The transcriptional coactivator PGC-1{alpha} is essential for maximal and efficient cardiac mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and lipid homeostasis

1 Center for Cardiovascular Research, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri; 2 Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism and Program in Human Molecular Biology and Genetics, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, Utah; 3 Center for Cardiovascular Research, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois; and 4 Division of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Department of Medicine, 5 Department of Molecular Biology and Pharmacology, 6 Department of Chemistry, and 7 Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri Submitted 25 January 2008 ; accepted in final form 14 May 2008 High-capacity mitochondrial ATP production is essential for normal function of the adult heart, and evidence is emerging that mitochondrial derangements occur in common myocardial diseases. Previous overexpression studies have shown that the inducible transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor- coactivator (PGC)-1 is capable of activating postnatal cardiac myocyte mitochondrial biogenesis. Recently, we generated mice deficient in PGC-1 (PGC-1 –/– mice), which survive with modestly blunted postnatal cardiac growth. To determine if PGC-1 is essential for normal cardiac energy metabolic capacity, mitochondrial function experiments were performed on saponin-permeabilized myocardial fibers from PGC-1 –/– mice. These experiments demonstrated reduced maximal (state 3) palmitoyl- L -carnitine respiration and increased maximal (state 3) pyruvate respiration in PGC-1 –/– mice compared with PGC-1 +/+ controls. ATP synthesis rates obtained during maximal (state 3) respiration in permeabilized myocardial fibers were reduced for PGC-1 –/– mice, whereas ATP produced per oxygen consumed (ATP/O), a measure of metabolic efficiency, was decreased by 58% for PGC-1 –/– fibers. Ex vivo isolated working heart experiments demonstrated that PGC-1 –/– mice exhibited lower cardiac power, reduced palmitate oxidation, and increased reliance on glucose oxidation, with the latter likely a compensatory response. 13 C NMR revealed that hearts from PGC-1 –/– mice exhibited a limited capacity to recruit triglyceride as a source for lipid oxidation during β-adrenergic challenge. Consistent with reduced mitochondrial fatty acid oxidative enzyme gene expression, the total triglyceride content was greater in hearts of PGC-1 –/– mice relative to PGC-