Pharmacological strategies for targeting BAT thermogenesis

Modern imaging techniques have confirmed the presence of thermogenically active brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans, leading to suggestions that it could be stimulated to treat obesity and its associated morbidities. The mechanisms regulating thermogenesis in BAT are better understood than ev...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Whittle, Andrew J., Relat Pardo, Joana, Vidal-Puig, Antonio
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2013
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de la UB
OAI Identifier:oai:diposit.ub.edu:2445/178887
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/178887
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Metabolisme
Teixit adipós
Obesitat
Metabolism
Adipose tissues
Obesity
Descripción
Sumario:Modern imaging techniques have confirmed the presence of thermogenically active brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans, leading to suggestions that it could be stimulated to treat obesity and its associated morbidities. The mechanisms regulating thermogenesis in BAT are better understood than ever before, with new hypotheses for increasing the amount of brown fat or its activity being put forward on a weekly basis. The challenge now is to identify safe ways to manipulate specific aspects of the physiological regulation of thermogenesis, in a manner that will be bioenergetically effective. This review outlines the nature of these regulatory mechanisms both terms of their cellular specificity and likely effectiveness given the physiological paradigms in which thermogenesis is activated. Similarly, their potential for being targeted by new or existing drugs is discussed, drawing on the known mechanisms of action of various pharmacological agents and some likely limitations that should be considered