Gene expression by glycerol-treated bone marrow macrophage

Although glycerol is a ubiquitous metabolite in mammalian systems, its cellular metabolic pathways and functions remain poorly understood. Here, we found that elevated extracellular glycerol modulated intracellular metabolism and inflammatory responses of macrophages. In proinflammatory macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharides, glycerol was taken up through glycerol channels aquaporin 3 (AQP3) and was converted to glycerol-3-phosphate and then to dihydroxyacetone phosphate via GPD2, fueling mitochondrial ATP production and upregulating the electron transport chain (ETC) genes. Glycerol also increased intracellular acetyl-CoA, enhanced histone acetylation at cytokine gene promoters, and amplified proinflammatory gene expression.