Overexpression of UCP3 decreases mitochondrial efficiency in mouse skeletal muscle in vivo

Uncoupling protein-3 (UCP3) is a mitochondrial transmembrane protein highly expressed in muscle that has been implicated in regulating the efficiency of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Increasing UCP3 expression in skeletal muscle enhances proton leak across the inner mitochondrial membrane and increases oxygen consumption in isolated mitochondria, but its precise function in vivo has yet to be fully elucidated. To examine whether muscle-specific overexpression of UCP3 modulates muscle mitochondrial oxidation in vivo, rates of ATP synthesis were assessed by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and rates of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism were measured by assessing the rate of [2-13C]acetate incorporation into muscle [4-13C]- , [3-13C]-glutamate and [4-13C]-glutamine by high resolution 13C/1H MRS. Using this approach we found that overexpression of UCP3 in skeletal muscle was accompanied by increased muscle mitochondrial inefficiency in vivo as reflected by a 42% reduction in the ratio of ATP synthesis to mitochondrial oxidation.