Editorial: Unlocking Therapeutic Potential of Brown Fat

Editorial: Molecular Regulation and Therapeutic Potential of Thermogenic Fat Cells

Much of systemic metabolism depends on the activity and function of adipose tissue. Adipocytes in mammals fall into two categories classified by their primary functions: white fat cells that mediate energy storage and thermogenic fat cells that counteract hypothermia and obesity through adap-tive thermogenesis. Whereas white fat and its function as an energy reservoir and endocrine organ have b...

Unlocking the Therapeutic Potential of Apelin.

Apelin was identified in 1998 as the endogenous ligand for the then orphan G-protein–coupled receptor, APJ, now renamed the apelin receptor. Widely expressed in the central nervous system and peripheral tissues, the apelin system participates in a diverse array of processes, including glucose metabolism, immune function, and fluid homeostasis. However, its principal physiological role seems to ...

Unlocking the potential of RNA interference as a therapeutic tool

Brown adipose tissue biology and therapeutic potential

BROWN ADIPOSE TISSUE Brown adipose tissue (BAT) (Figure 1) has been recognized as a key thermogenic tissue in rodents for several decades. However, in the last few years, there has been a resurgent interest in the biology and therapeutic potential of BAT. This has been largely driven by a new understanding that most, if not all, healthy adult humans have significant deposits of BAT which can be...

EDITORIAL Nicotinic Mechanisms: Potential for Therapeutic Exploitation

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with characteristic clinical and pathologic features. Although multiple neural systems are affected, a key component of the degenerative process is a loss of cholinergic neurons and a subsequent reduction in nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), which are widely distributed and influence the release of multiple neurotran...