Lack of Extracellular Adenosine Formation Promotes Lipolysis, Intromyocellular Lipid Deposition & Peripheral Insulin Resistance

Ulrich Flgel¹, Sandra Burghoff¹, Jrgen Schrader¹

In the present study, we used CD73-deficient mice to characterize the metabolic consequences of impaired extracellular adenosine formation using ¹H MRI and ¹H/¹³C MRS for analysis of body fat content and composition as well as hepatic and myocellular lipid distribution. We found that disrupted extracellular adenosine formation due to lack of CD73 leads to an enhanced lipolysis accompanied by accumulation of intramyocellular lipids in skeletal muscle and peripheral insulin resistance. These findings suggest that CD73-derived adenosine is an important modulator of lipolysis and might be critically involved in development of diseases like diabetes mellitus and the metabolic syndrome.