The potential mechanisms of white adipose tissue browning: a novel target for the treatment of obesity.

Lihua Wang; Yiran Liu; Feng Hu; Zhongyu Zhou; Wang, Lihua; Liu, Yiran; Hu, Feng; Zhou, Zhongyu

Introduction: The increase of the obesity pandemic worldwide over the last several decades has generated a constant need for the scientific world to develop new possibilities to combat obesity. Since the discovery that brown adipose tissue (BAT) exists in adult humans, and BAT activation contributes to a negative energy balance, much more attention has been focused on the understanding of the molecular switches and their different regulatory mechanisms turning on energy expenditure. Recent insights have revealed that a range of stimuli including cold exposure, physical activity and diet, and critical transcription molecules such as PPARγ, PRDM16, PGC-1α and UCP1, aiming at the induction of BAT activation, could cause the browning of white adipose tissue, thereby dissipating energy and increasing heat production. An increasing number of studies that point to the white adipose tissue (WAT) browning strategies aiming at diet-induced and/or genetically determined obesity have been tested in mouse models as well as in human studies. The aim of this review is to summarize the transcriptional regulators as well as the various mediators that have been regarded as potential therapeutic targets in the process of WAT browning.

ENERGY metabolism; OBESITY; BODY temperature regulation; ADIPOSE tissues; MICE; ANIMALS

Nutrición Hospitalaria, 2022, Vol 39, Issue 2, p411

0212-1611

Academic Journal

10.20960/nh.03852