Brown Adipose Tissue: an Update on Recent Findings

Abstract

Purpose of review New treatment approaches to weight loss and weight loss maintenance in humans are critical. Given its potential role in stimulating energy expenditure, brown adipose tissue (BAT) activation has become a trending topic as an anti-obesity treatment. Recent findings Most studies on BAT stimulation have been conducted in rodents and used cold stimulation. To date, few human trials exist that tested the effect of cold exposure on BAT. Those studies show that BAT contributes a small amount to overall energy metabolism which is unlikely to cause weight loss. Nonetheless, improvements in glucose metabolism have been demonstrated in humans. While new pharmacological approaches demonstrate some contribution of BAT to overall energy expenditure, the potential cardiovascular risk (increased heart rate and blood pressure to sustain the extra energy expenditure) may preclude their use. Summary There is no convincing evidence yet to indicate that BAT may be a viable pharmaceutical target for body weight loss or even weight loss maintenance. More research is needed to confirm the relevance of BAT and beige tissue to whole-body energy metabolism in humans.

Vigorous-Intensity Physical Activities Are Associated with High Brown Adipose Tissue Density in Humans

“…The response of SNS during exercise is reported to increase from around 50-70% of the maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2max ) [43][44][45][46][47]. However, previous exercise studies did not focus on SNS, which makes previous research results regarding the correlation of exercise with BAT unclear [27,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]. We hypothesized that vigorous-intensity physical activity (VPA) activates SNS, yielding an increase in BAT-d in the supraclavicular region.…”

Comprehensive amelioration of high-fat diet-induced metabolic dysfunctions through activation of the PGC-1α pathway by probiotics treatment in mice

“…Adipose-derived FGF21 also increases the expression of UCP1 and other thermogenic genes in adipose tissue by enhancing PGC-1α expression [17,18]. Browning of WAT and thermogenesis in BAT are major contributors to energy expenditure, which have been considered as effective strategies for the treatment of metabolic disorders [19]. It also has been proposed by several studies that WAT browning and BAT thermogenesis could be regulated through modulation of microbiota and their derived metabolites [20].…”

Indirubin, a small molecular deriving from connectivity map (CMAP) screening, ameliorates obesity-induced metabolic dysfunction by enhancing brown adipose thermogenesis and white adipose browning

“…WAT stores excess energy in the form of triglycerides. In contrast, BAT increases energy expenditure by dissipating chemical energy as heat (thermogenesis), potentially counteracting obesity and related disorders [8]. Indeed, recent researches have shown that BAT transplantation could reduce the body weight gain and ameliorate glucose homeostasis in leptin deficient (ob/ob) obese mice and high-fat diet (HFD) -induced obese mice [9,10].…”