Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40120980›Full record

ArticleMolecular metabolism2025

No UCP1 in the kidney.

Celso Pereira Batista Sousa-Filho, Natasa Petrovic

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In one paragraph

Article in Molecular metabolism, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Celso Pereira Batista Sousa-FilhoDepartment of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
Natasa PetrovicDepartment of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: natasa.petrovic@su.se.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesSeveral recent studies have indicated the presence of UCP1 in the kidney, challenging the paradigm that UCP1 is only found in brown and beige adipocytes and broadening the (patho)physiological significance of UCP1. The kidney localization has been the direct result of immunohistochemical investigations and an inferred outcome from multiple lines of reporter mice. These findings require confirmation and further physiological characterization.

methodsWe examined UCP1 expression in the kidney using immunohistochemistry and qPCR. Transversal sections through or near the kidney hilum, consistently including perirenal brown fat and adjacent kidney tissue, were analyzed with four UCP1 antibodies.

resultsIn addition to detecting UCP1 in perirenal adipose tissue, we observed distinct immunopositive structures in the kidney with our in-house UCP1-antibody, 'C10', in apparent agreement with earlier reports. To corroborate this, we tested the C10-antibody on kidney sections from UCP1-ablated mice but found equal reactivity in these UCP1-negative tissues. We then tested the widely used antibody ab10983, previously employed in kidney studies. Also here, the positive signal persisted in UCP1-ablated mice, clearly invalidating earlier findings. UCP1 qPCR studies also failed to detect UCP1 mRNA above background. Finally, two highly specific antibodies, E9Z2V and EPR20381, accurately detected UCP1 in perirenal adipose tissue but showed no signal in the kidney.

conclusionsWhen appropriate controls are implemented, there is no evidence for the presence of UCP1 in the kidney. Consequently, this conclusion also implies that the results from UCP1 reporter mice, specifically regarding kidney expression of the UCP1 gene - though possibly applicable to other tissues - require reconfirmation before being accepted as evidence for the presence of UCP1 in non-adipose tissues.

Indexed as

KidneyUncoupling Protein 1Adipose Tissue, BrownAnimalsImmunohistochemistryMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLUcp1 protein, mouseUncoupling Protein 1AntibodyBrown adipose tissueImmunohistochemistryKidneyUCP1

Identifiers

PMID40120980
PMCPMC11995138

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.