title: Non-pharmacological and pharmacological strategies of brown adipose tissue recruitment in humans.
abstract: Humans maintain core temperature through a complex neuroendocrine circuitry, coupling environmental thermal and nutritional cues to heat-producing and dissipating mechanisms. Up to 40% of resting energy expenditure contributes to thermal homeostasis maintenance. Recent re-discovery of thermogenic brown adipose tissue (BAT) has brought the relation between ambient temperature, thermogenesis and systemic energy and substrate metabolism to the forefront. In addition to well-known pituitary-thyroid-adrenal axis, new endocrine signals, such as FGF21 and irisin, orchestrate crosstalk between white adipose tissue (WAT), BAT and muscle, tuning non-shivering and shivering thermogenesis responses. Cold exposure modulates the endocrine milieu, and cold-induced hormones cause bioenergetics transformation sufficient to impact whole body metabolism. This review will appraise the nature of human BAT and the basis of BAT-centred therapeutics, highlighting how the interaction between hormones and adipose tissue impacts metabolic responses. Non-pharmacological and pharmacological strategies of BAT recruitment and/or fat browning for metabolic benefits will be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Diabetes and Metabolism Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia; Department of Endocrinology, St Vincent's Hospital, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: p.lee@garvan.org.au.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Diabetes and Metabolism Division, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, 384 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia; Department of Endocrinology, St Vincent's Hospital, New South Wales, Australia; Diabetes Centre, St Vincent's Hospital, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Jerry R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Greenfield
mesh_terms: D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D005353:Fibronectins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000502:physiology; D022722:Thermogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019440:Anti-Obesity Agents; C577593:FNDC5 protein, human; D005353:Fibronectins; C414620:fibroblast growth factor 21; D005346:Fibroblast Growth Factors
keywords: Beige adipose tissue; Energy balance; FGF21; Irisin; Metabolism; Thermogenesis