Table of contents

Volume 6, Issue 7, pp. 68 - 71, July 2022

Issue cover
Cover: Image shows fusing lipid droplets from damaged Drosophila fat body tissue stained with BODIPY™ 493/503. Credit: Andreas Zimmermann. The cover is published under the CC BY 4.0 license. Enlarge issue cover

News and Thoughts

A purinergic call to arms from dying brown adipocytes

Mohammed K. Hankir

page 68-71 | 10.15698/cst2022.07.269 | Full text | PDF | Abstract

Brown adipocytes react to temperature and nutritional challenges by ramping up their metabolism and generating heat. This adaptation to changes in the environment is crucial for defending organismal homeostasis, but is impaired in obesity and during aging. Writing in Nature, Niemann et al. show that brown adipocytes become apoptotic under thermoneutral conditions and release ATP, which in turn is converted extracellularly into inosine. They further present evidence that pharmacological and genetic manipulations that enhance signalling of this purine metabolite stimulates thermo-genesis in brown adipocytes and promotes metabolic health.

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