Growth, adipose, brain, and skin alterations resulting from targeted disruption of the mouse peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor beta(delta)

To determine the physiological roles of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor beta (PPARbeta), null mice were constructed by targeted disruption of the ligand binding domain of the murine PPARbeta gene. Homozygous PPARbeta-null term fetuses were smaller than controls, and this phenotype persisted postnatally. Gonadal adipose stores were smaller, and constitutive mRNA levels of CD36 were higher, in PPARbeta-null mice than in controls. In the brain, myelination of the corpus callosum was altered in PPARbeta-null mice. PPARbeta was not required for induction of mRNAs involved in epidermal differentiation induced by O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). The hyperplastic response observed in the epidermis after TPA application was significantly greater in the PPARbeta-null mice than in controls. Inflammation induced by TPA in the skin was lower in wild-type mice fed sulindac than in similarly treated PPARbeta-null mice. These results are the first to provide in vivo evidence of significant roles for PPARbeta in development, myelination of the corpus callosum, lipid metabolism, and epidermal cell proliferation.