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Adipose biology

MCT1 helps brown fat suck up succinate

Nature Metabolism volume 6, pages 387–388 (2024)Cite this article

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Succinate can be released from contracting skeletal muscle and accumulate in brown adipose tissue (BAT) to drive thermogenesis and protect against obesity. A study in this issue of Nature Metabolism uncovers the mechanistic underpinnings of BAT succinate sequestration through MCT1-dependent uptake and cytosolic pH changes, thus strengthening the role for cellular shuttling of succinate in the control of systemic energy homeostasis.

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Fig. 1: pH-dependent uptake of succinate into brown adipocytes.

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Acknowledgements

J. L. is supported by the BRIDGE – Translational Excellence Programme (http://bridge.ku.dk/) at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF20SA0064340). The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research is an independent research centre, based at the University of Copenhagen, and partially funded by an unconditional donation from the Novo Nordisk Foundation (http://cbmr.ku.dk/; grant number NNF23SA0084103).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jens Lund, Marie Sophie Isidor & Zachary Gerhart-Hines

  2. Embark Laboratories ApS, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Zachary Gerhart-Hines

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  1. Jens Lund
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  2. Marie Sophie Isidor
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  3. Zachary Gerhart-Hines
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Correspondence to Jens Lund, Marie Sophie Isidor or Zachary Gerhart-Hines.

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J.L. and M.S.I. declare no competing interests. Z.G.H. is a co-founder of Embark Biotech and a co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Embark Laboratories, both of which seek to develop novel biotherapeutics for cardiometabolic disease.

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Lund, J., Isidor, M.S. & Gerhart-Hines, Z. MCT1 helps brown fat suck up succinate. Nat Metab 6, 387–388 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-00979-z

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