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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Brian WalkerORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2016 The Author(s)The discovery of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adult humans presents a new therapeutic target for metabolic disease; however, little is known about the regulation of human BAT. Chronic glucocorticoid excess causes obesity in humans, and glucocorticoids suppress BAT activation in rodents. We tested whether glucocorticoids regulate BAT activity in humans. In vivo, the glucocorticoid prednisolone acutely increased 18fluorodeoxyglucose uptake by BAT (measured using PET/CT) in lean healthy men during mild cold exposure (16°C–17°C). In addition, prednisolone increased supraclavicular skin temperature (measured using infrared thermography) and energy expenditure during cold, but not warm, exposure in lean subjects. In vitro, glucocorticoids increased isoprenaline-stimulated respiration and UCP-1 in human primary brown adipocytes, but substantially decreased isoprenaline-stimulated respiration and UCP-1 in primary murine brown and beige adipocytes. The highly species-specific regulation of BAT function by glucocorticoids may have important implications for the translation of novel treatments to activate BAT to improve metabolic health.
Author(s): Ramage LE, Akyol M, Fletcher AM, Forsythe J, Nixon M, Carter RN, van Beek EJR, Morton NM, Walker BR, Stimson RH
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Cell Metabolism
Year: 2016
Volume: 24
Issue: 1
Pages: 130-141
Print publication date: 12/07/2016
Online publication date: 12/07/2016
Acceptance date: 15/06/2016
Date deposited: 22/12/2017
ISSN (print): 1550-4131
ISSN (electronic): 1932-7420
Publisher: Cell Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2016.06.011
DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.06.011
PubMed id: 27411014
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