Editor's Summary
26 January 2006
Turn up the heat
Bile acids are known to mediate dietary lipid absorption and cholesterol catabolism, and recently an important signalling role emerged. Now they have been found to increase energy expenditure in brown adipose tissue and human skeletal muscle. As bile acid signalling may drive diet-induced heat production, it is a possible therapeutic target for the control of energy homeostasis.
News and Views: Metabolism: Bile acids heat things up
Thyroid hormone causes fat loss, but harnessing this action to treat obesity is difficult because it is associated with harmful side effects. However, bile acids generate active thyroid hormone just where it is needed.
John D. Baxter & Paul Webb
doi:10.1038/439402a
Letter: Bile acids induce energy expenditure by promoting intracellular thyroid hormone activation
Mitsuhiro Watanabe, Sander M. Houten, Chikage Mataki, Marcelo A. Christoffolete, Brian W. Kim, Hiroyuki Sato, Nadia Messaddeq, John W. Harney, Osamu Ezaki, Tatsuhiko Kodama, Kristina Schoonjans, Antonio C. Bianco & Johan Auwerx
doi:10.1038/nature04330
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (523K) | Supplementary information
