AUTHOR=Pan Ruping , Zhu Xiaohua , Maretich Pema , Chen Yong 

TITLE=Metabolic Improvement via Enhancing Thermogenic Fat-Mediated Non-shivering Thermogenesis: From Rodents to Humans

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Endocrinology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/endocrinology/articles/10.3389/fendo.2020.00633

DOI=10.3389/fendo.2020.00633

ISSN=1664-2392

ABSTRACT=Brown and beige adipose tissues play a large role in non-shivering thermogenesis (NST)
in mammals, and subsequently have been studied for decades as potential therapeutic
targets to treat obesity and its related metabolic diseases. However, the mechanistic
regulation of brown/beige adipose tissue induction and maintenance in humans is very
limited due to the ethical reasons. In fact, metabolic signaling has primarily been
investigated using rodent models. A better understanding of non-shivering thermogenesis
in humans is thus vital and urgent in order to treat obesity by targeting human brown
adipose tissue (BAT). In this review, we summarize the anatomical and physiological
differences between rodent and human BAT as well as recent advancements in human
studies targeting thermogenic adipocytes as a means to combat metabolic diseases.
Furthermore, we also discuss novel relevant strategies of therapeutic interventions and
future investigations in this field.