The role of acetylation in obesity-induced cardiac metabolic alterations

Abstract

Obesity is a growing public health problem, with its prevalence rate having tripled in the last five decades. It has been shown that obesity is associated with alterations in cardiac energy metabolism, which in turn plays a significant role in heart failure development. During obesity, the heart becomes highly dependent on fatty acid oxidation as its primary source of energy (ATP), while the contribution from glucose oxidation significantly decreases. This metabolic inflexibility is associated with reduced cardiac efficiency and contractile dysfunction. Although it is well recognized that alterations in cardiac energy metabolism during obesity are associated with the risk of heart failure development, the molecular mechanisms controlling these metabolic changes are not fully understood. Recently, posttranslational protein modifications of metabolic enzymes have been shown to play a crucial role in cardiac energy metabolic changes seen in obesity. Understanding these novel mechanisms is important in developing new therapeutic options to treat or prevent cardiac metabolic alteration and dysfunction in obese individuals. This review discusses posttranslational acetylation changes during obesity and their roles in mediating cardiac energy metabolic perturbations during obesity as well as its therapeutic potentials.

Keywords: cardiac energy metabolism; fatty acid oxidation; heart failure; obesity; protein lysine acetylation.