Pre-diabetes articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Extracellular vesicles (EVs) convey inter-organ communication in health and disease. Here, the authors report that adipocyte-derived EVs isolated from insulin-resistant obese but not lean male mice stimulate insulin secretion via the targeted transfer of insulinotropic proteins from adipose tissue to β-cells.

    • Konxhe Kulaj
    • , Alexandra Harger
    •  & Kerstin Stemmer
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Senescent cells play a role in pathogenesis of diabetes, and senolytic agents can improve obesity- and diabetes-related pathologies. Here the authors report that mitochondrially targeted tamoxifen, a potential anti-cancer agent with senolytic activity, alleviates symptoms of obesity and prediabetes in mice, potentially via reduction of food intake and elimination of senescent cells.

    • Eliska Vacurova
    • , Jaroslava Trnovska
    •  & Jiri Neuzil
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Time-restricted eating, both early (eTRF) and mid-day (mTRF), have been shown to have metabolic benefits. Here the authors report a randomized controlled trial to compare the effects of eTRF and mTRF in healthy volunteers without obesity, and find that eTRF is more effective in improving the primary outcome insulin sensitivity.

    • Zhibo Xie
    • , Yuning Sun
    •  & Yilei Mao
  • Article
    | Open Access

    p53 regulates signalling pathways involved in metabolic homeostasis. Here the authors show that O-GlcNAcylation of p53 in the liver plays a key role in the physiological regulation of glucose homeostasis, potentially via controlling the expression of the gluconeogenic enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase.

    • Maria J. Gonzalez-Rellan
    • , Marcos F. Fondevila
    •  & Ruben Nogueiras
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sex differences in fasting glucose and insulin have been identified, but the genetic loci underlying these differences have not. Here, the authors perform a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies to detect sex-specific and sex-dimorphic loci associated with fasting glucose and insulin.

    • Vasiliki Lagou
    • , Reedik Mägi
    •  & Inga Prokopenko
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Brain insulin action regulates eating behavior and whole-body energy fluxes, however the impact of brain insulin resistance on long-term weight and body fat composition is unknown. Here, the authors show that high brain insulin sensitivity is linked to weight loss during lifestyle intervention and associates with a favorable body fat distribution.

    • Stephanie Kullmann
    • , Vera Valenta
    •  & Martin Heni
  • Article
    | Open Access

    It’s well known that hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory are impaired in experimental models of metabolic diseases, however, it is unclear if maternal diet or metabolic alterations around the gestational age may multigenerationally affect learning and memory. In this study, authors demonstrate that maternal high fat diet-dependent insulin resistance affects synaptic plasticity and memory of descendants until the third generation via reduced exon specific brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression in the hippocampus of descendants

    • Salvatore Fusco
    • , Matteo Spinelli
    •  & Claudio Grassi
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Pancreatic islets are composed of alpha-, beta-, as well as delta-cells and appropriate regulation of glucose homeostasis relies on auto- and paracrine cellular communication. Here, the authors study the role of delta-cell filopodia in this context by employing optogenetic and calcium imaging approaches.

    • Rafael Arrojo e Drigo
    • , Stefan Jacob
    •  & Per-Olof Berggren
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Gut microbiota impact host metabolism and gut microbiome composition reflects dietary habits. Here the authors show that, in animals fed obesogenic diets, changes in gut microbiota precede changes in glucose homeostasis. Importantly, long term exposure of the host to the changed microbiota is required to impair glucose homeostasis.

    • Kevin P. Foley
    • , Soumaya Zlitni
    •  & Jonathan D. Schertzer
  • Article
    | Open Access

    High protein diets are known to improve metabolic parameters including adiposity and glucose homeostasis. Here the authors demonstrate that preabsorptive upper small intestinal protein-sensing mechanisms mediated by peptide transporter 1 improve glucose homeostasis by inhibiting hepatic glucose production.

    • Helen J. Dranse
    • , T. M. Zaved Waise
    •  & Tony K. T. Lam
  • Article
    | Open Access

    Glucagon secretion is promoted during hypoglycemia and inhibited by increased glucose levels. Here, Basco et al. show that glucokinase suppresses glucose-regulated glucagon secretion by modulating the intracellular ATP/ADP ratio and the closure of KATP channels in α-cells.

    • Davide Basco
    • , Quan Zhang
    •  & Bernard Thorens
  • Article
    | Open Access

    The influence of insulin on food preference and the corresponding underlying neural circuits are unknown in humans. Here, the authors show that increasing insulin changes food preference by modulating mesolimbic neural circuits, and that this pattern is changed in insulin-resistant individuals.

    • Lena J. Tiedemann
    • , Sebastian M. Schmid
    •  & Stefanie Brassen