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Bone-derived sclerostin accelerates the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by deregulating the Wnt–β-catenin signalling pathway in the brain. The image is a staining of the enzyme β-secretase (essential for AD pathogenesis) in a hippocampus section from a mouse model of AD.
When preparing your manuscript, clear presentation of the data and concise writing are key. In this Editorial, we offer tips on how to better communicate your results.
Eating requires the sensing in the stomach of not only nutrients, but also volume. A study in Nature Metabolism shows that stretch activation of PIEZO1 on X/A-like cells of the stomach reduces ghrelin production and secretion, which consequently reduces food intake.
Hypothalamic neural pathways control appetite and food intake, and thereby influence body weight and metabolism. De Solis et al. apply chemogenetics to simultaneously manipulate two subpopulations of hypothalamic neurons. Using this approach, the authors identify a pathway that regulates feeding behaviour.
A recent study in Nature Metabolism uncovers a mechanism for pain sensitization that involves a regulatory protein of glycogen metabolism in spinal astrocytes. Targeting this protein, or the lactate fluxes linked to glycogen breakdown, may provide novel opportunities for pain management.
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.
Resistant starch is a prebiotic fibre that is fermented by the gut microbiota and leads to benefits for host physiology. A clinical trial in Nature Metabolism demonstrates weight loss when resistant starch was given to individuals with excess weight.
AMPK directly phosphorylates the mitochondrial protein SYNJ2BP to facilitate its interaction with the RNA-binding protein SYNJ2a, which transports Pink1 mRNA into neurites. AMPK inhibition downstream of insulin signalling untethers Pink1 mRNA from neuronal mitochondria and favours PINK1-dependent mitophagy in neurons. ApoE4-induced insulin receptor internalization reverses the process by stabilizing Pink1 mRNA binding to neuronal mitochondria.
Individuals with osteoporosis have increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease or cognitive impairment during ageing. We elucidated a partial explanation for bone dysmetabolism’s association with such cognitive decline, by demonstrating how elevated sclerostin secretion from osteocytes in bone impaired cognitive function in aged mice and in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model.
The immunosuppressive metabolic tumour microenvironment in solid tumours limits the antitumour activity of cell-based immunotherapy. In this Perspective, McPhedran et al. propose a framework to overcome this issue by engineering metabolic networks in T cells to enhance chimeric antigen receptor T cell efficiency
In male mice with diet-induced obesity, deletion of insulin inhibitory receptor (inceptor) in the whole body, in the brain and in pancreatic β cells improves glucose homeostasis, underlining a role of inceptor in regulating glucose homeostasis in the brain and pancreas.
De Solis and Del Río-Martín et al. investigate the reciprocal interplay between AgRP and POMC neurocircuits that governs the precise regulation of food intake and systemic metabolic homeostasis.
Hees et al. identify a mechanism that integrates insulin signalling with distal mitochondrial quality control in neurons via AMPK/PINK1, with implications for mitochondrial dysfunction in the context of insulin resistance in neurons.
The authors show that abnormal elevation of osteocyte-derived sclerostin deregulates Wnt–β-catenin signalling in the brain and aggravates cognitive impairment under pathological conditions.
Zhang, Fang, et al. develop a method to perform an in-depth lysine succinylation analysis in the mouse liver. This approach allows them to identify a previously unappreciated mechanism of regulation of the urea cycle and ammonia detoxification.
In the context of succinate uptake to promote adipose tissue browning, Reddy, Winther et al. show how the directionality of succinate transport across membranes is coupled with metabolic flux-derived changes in pH gradients.
In a randomized placebo-controlled trial in 37 individuals with excess body weight, dietary supplementation with resistant starch lowers body weight and induces changes in gut microbiota composition. Mechanistic analysis in male mice shows that resistant starch at least partially facilitates weight loss through the action of Bifidobacteriumadolescentis.