Cited by 1,222Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated ReceptorsMetabolism, Diabetes, and CancerAdipose Tissue and Metabolism

AMPK and PPARδ Agonists Are Exercise Mimetics

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Narkar, Vihang A., Downes, Michael, Yu, Ruth T., Embler, Emi, Wang, Yong-Xu, Banayo, Ester, Mihaylova, Maria M., Nelson, Michael C. +5 more·2008·Cell

Abstract

The benefits of endurance exercise on general health make it desirable to identify orally active agents that would mimic or potentiate the effects of exercise to treat metabolic diseases. Although certain natural compounds, such as reseveratrol, have endurance-enhancing activities, their exact metabolic targets remain elusive. We therefore tested the effect of pathway-specific drugs on endurance capacities of mice in a treadmill running test. We found that PPARbeta/delta agonist and exercise training synergistically increase oxidative myofibers and running endurance in adult mice. Because training activates AMPK and PGC1alpha, we then tested whether the orally active AMPK agonist AICAR might be sufficient to overcome the exercise requirement. Unexpectedly, even in sedentary mice, 4 weeks of AICAR treatment alone induced metabolic genes and enhanced running endurance by 44%. These results demonstrate that AMPK-PPARdelta pathway can be targeted by orally active drugs to enhance training adaptation or even to increase endurance without exercise.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cell.2008.06.051

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  • AICAR rescued mitochondrial function in mice deficient in cytochrome c oxidase and augmented exercise endurance in healthy animals in a PGC1α-dependent manner, even if they were untrained.

    “AICAR also rescued mitochondrial function in mice deficient in cytochrome c oxidase and augmented exercise endurance in healthy animals in a PGC1α-dependent manner, even if they were untrained (255, 256).”
  • Treatment of mice with a combination of AICAR and GW1516, an agonist of PPARδ, synergistically increased oxidative myofibers and running endurance.

    “Recently, Narkar et al., showed that treatment of mice with a combination of AICAR and GW1516, an agonist of muscle-specific transcriptional regulator PPARδ, synergistically increased oxidative myofibers and running endurance 161.”

    From Cellular bioenergetics as a target for obesity therapy (2010) · cites this paper as [161]

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Authors
Narkar, V. A., Downes, M., Yu, R. T., Embler, E., Wang, Y.-X., Banayo, E., Mihaylova, M. M., Nelson, M. C., Zou, Y., Juguilon, H., Kang, H., Shaw, R. J., & Evans, R. M.
Affiliations
  • Salk Institute for Biological Studies (US)
  • University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
  • Seoul National University (KR)
Corresponding author
Evans, Ronald M.
Venue
Cell
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2008-08
Volume
134
Issue
3
Pages
405-415
ISSN
0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2061075485
Cited by
1,222
References
54
Citations by year
2026: 45 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 58 · 2020: 68 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 76 · 2017: 74 · 2016: 58 · 2015: 89 · 2014: 95 · 2013: 97 · 2012: 80
FWCI
37.75
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
erratum (2008-10-03)
Open access
Locations
  • Cell (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • National Cancer Institute (P30CA014195)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R37DK057978, DK057978, R01DK057978)
  • National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (F32AR053803)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD027183, HD027183)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptors
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
Keywords
AMPK agonists, PPARδ agonist, exercise mimetics, AICAR, running endurance, PGC-1α, PPARδ, metabolic adaptation, sedentary mice, metabolic disorders, treadmill running
MeSH terms
Administration, Oral, Aminoimidazole Carboxamide, Animals, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Multienzyme Complexes, Physical Conditioning, Animal, Physical Endurance, Ribonucleotides, Thiazoles, Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases, Muscle, Skeletal, Biomimetics, PPAR delta, Mice, AMP-Activated Protein Kinases

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