Thyroid hormone receptor a in skeletal muscle is essential for thyroid thermogenesis

Thyroid hormones are important for homeostatic control of energy metabolism and body temperature. Although skeletal muscle is considered an important site for thyroid action, the contribution of thyroid hormone receptor signaling, in muscle, to whole-body energy metabolism and body temperature has not been resolved. Here, we show that thyroid hormone-induced increase in energy expenditure requires thyroid hormone receptor alpha 1 (TRa1) in skeletal muscle, but that thyroid hormone induced elevation in body temperature is independent of muscle-TRa1. In slow-twitch soleus muscle, ablation of TRa1 leads to an altered fiber type composition toward a more oxidative phenotype, which, however, does not influence running capacity or motivation to voluntary running. RNA-sequencing of soleus muscle from WT mice and TRaHSACre mice revealed differentiated transcriptional regulation of genes associated with muscle thermogenesis, such as sarcolipin and UCP3, thus providing molecular clues pertaining to the mechanistic underpinnings of TRa1-linked control of whole-body metabolic rate. Together, this work establishes a fundamental role for skeletal muscle in thyroid hormone-stimulated increase in whole-body energy expenditure. 22 samples from either wild-type (WT) or knockout (KO) mice either treated with T3 (treatment) or vehicle (vehicle).