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Adipose tissue responds to a variety of hormonal and environmental cues with changes in size, cellular composition and metabolic activity. Here Kajimura and Chouchani review our current understanding of adipocyte metabolism in physiology and metabolic disease, and they discuss strategies to reprogram adipocyte fate and metabolism.
Strategies to restore levels of the enzyme cofactor nicotinamide adenine dinclueotide (NAD) late in life to maintain health by treatment with NAD precursors, such as nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), represent an exciting area of research in aging and age-related diseases. A study in Nature Metabolism provides an answer to the hotly debated yet fundamental question: how NMN actually gets into cells.
Fibrosis is characterized by excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) production relative to catabolism. A new study shows that the fuel choice of fibroblasts impacts this balance, with glycolysis promoting ECM synthesis and fatty acid oxidation stimulating ECM degradation.
The growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) is a bio-energetically demanding process. Surprisingly, the specific role of mitochondria in angiogenesis remains unclear. A study in this issue of Nature Metabolism now demonstrates that mitochondrial respiration is essential for angiogenic growth by controlling endothelial proliferation.
The gut microbiome has emerged as an important regulator of host physiology and disease, including metabolic diseases. Here Cani et al. provide a broad overview of mechanisms through which the gut microbiota affects metabolic regulation in the host.
Intermediate metabolites of the Krebs cycle serve bioenergetic and biosynthetic needs but have recently also been linked to signalling. The authors of this Review summarize such non-metabolic signalling functions of succinate, fumarate, itaconate, 2-hydroxyglutarate isomers and acetyl-CoA in both immune cells and cancer cells.
Cholesterol accumulation in cells and blood vessels promotes the development of vascular diseases. The long non-coding RNA CHROME can help clear excess cholesterol and provide protection from atherosclerosis.
