Cited by 644Adipose Tissue and MetabolismPeroxisome Proliferator-Activated ReceptorsMetabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer

β-Aminoisobutyric Acid Induces Browning of White Fat and Hepatic β-Oxidation and Is Inversely Correlated with Cardiometabolic Risk Factors

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Roberts, Lee D., Boström, Pontus, O’Sullivan, John F., Schinzel, Robert T., Lewis, Gregory D., Dejam, Andre, Lee, Youn-Kyoung, Palma, Melinda J. +15 more·2014·Cell Metabolism

Abstract

The transcriptional coactivator peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) regulates metabolic genes in skeletal muscle and contributes to the response of muscle to exercise. Muscle PGC-1α transgenic expression and exercise both increase the expression of thermogenic genes within white adipose. How the PGC-1α-mediated response to exercise in muscle conveys signals to other tissues remains incompletely defined. We employed a metabolomic approach to examine metabolites secreted from myocytes with forced expression of PGC-1α, and identified β-aminoisobutyric acid (BAIBA) as a small molecule myokine. BAIBA increases the expression of brown adipocyte-specific genes in white adipocytes and β-oxidation in hepatocytes both in vitro and in vivo through a PPARα-mediated mechanism, induces a brown adipose-like phenotype in human pluripotent stem cells, and improves glucose homeostasis in mice. In humans, plasma BAIBA concentrations are increased with exercise and inversely associated with metabolic risk factors. BAIBA may thus contribute to exercise-induced protection from metabolic diseases.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cmet.2013.12.003

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  • BAIBA are natural metabolites of thymine and valine secreted primarily by myocytes during physical exercise.

    “β-aminoisobutyric acid (BAIBA) are natural metabolites of thymine and valine secreted primarily by myocytes during the practice of physical exercise (Roberts et al., 2014).”

    From Physical Exercise-Induced Myokines and Muscle-Adipose Tissue Crosstalk: A Review of Current Knowledge and the Implications for Health and Metabolic Diseases (2018) · cites this paper as Roberts et al., 2014

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says BAIBA can be generated from valine and identifies it as an exercise-triggered myokine; the Results show BAIBA secretion by cultured muscle cells and increased muscle and plasma levels after exercise. Our copy does not identify thymine as a precursor or establish that myocytes are its primary source during exercise; the Discussion notes that BAIBA may also increase in other tissues. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The increase of PGC1α observed during physical exercise results in a concomitant increase in BAIBA serum levels.

    “The increase of PGC1α observed during physical exercise results in a concomitant increase in BAIBA serum levels.”

    From Physical Exercise-Induced Myokines and Muscle-Adipose Tissue Crosstalk: A Review of Current Knowledge and the Implications for Health and Metabolic Diseases (2018) · cites this paper as Roberts et al., 2014

    The Results section reports higher plasma BAIBA after exercise training in mice and humans, and higher plasma BAIBA in mice with forced muscle PGC-1α expression. These findings support the proposed link, but the paper does not establish that the rise in PGC-1α during exercise causes the observed rise in circulating BAIBA. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • β-aminoisobutyric acid (BAIBA) attenuates insulin resistance, improves glucose tolerance, and promotes browning of white adipose tissue and hepatic β-oxidation.

    “For example, β‐aminoisobutyric acid (BAIBA), a novel exercise‐induced muscle factor, attenuates insulin resistance, improves glucose tolerance, and promotes the browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) and hepatic β‐oxidation (Roberts et al, 2014; Jung et al, 2015).”

    From Exercise‐induced α‐ketoglutaric acid stimulates muscle hypertrophy and fat loss through OXGR1‐dependent adrenal activation (2020) · cites this paper as Roberts et al, 2014

    The Results report that BAIBA improved glucose tolerance in treated mice, while the Discussion reports BAIBA-induced browning of white adipose tissue and increased hepatic β-oxidation. The Results also show an inverse association between plasma BAIBA and an insulin-resistance measure in humans, but do not show that BAIBA treatment attenuates insulin resistance. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Two studies have reported increased circulating levels of BAIBA following aerobic exercise, e.g., cycling for 1 h at 40% maximal power output or after 20 weeks of 30-50 min cycling sessions at 55-75% VO2 max in healthy young men.

    “two studies have reported increased circulating levels of BAIBA following aerobic exercise, e.g., cycling for 1 h at 40% maximal power output [106] or after 20 weeks of 30–50 min cycling sessions at 55–75% VO2 max [104] in healthy young men.”

    From The Role of Exercise in the Interplay between Myokines, Hepatokines, Osteokines, Adipokines, and Modulation of Inflammation for Energy Substrate Redistribution and Fat Mass Loss: A Review (2020) · cites this paper as [104]

    The Results section reports a 17% increase in plasma BAIBA among 80 HERITAGE participants after 20 weeks of training. Experimental Procedures describes cycling sessions that progressed from 30 minutes at 55% VO2max to 50 minutes at 75% VO2max. The paper does not identify the 80 participants as healthy young men; it describes the broader study as enrolling previously sedentary people aged 16–65. The separate one-hour cycling example is attached to citation [106], not this source. (LLM, conf=0.87)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • The myokines irisin and BAIBA directly induce WAT browning both in vitro and in vivo by upregulating genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis, FAO, oxidative phosphorylation, and thermogenesis.

    “The myokines irisin [57] and BAIBA [104] have been described to directly induce WAT “browning” both in vitro and in vivo, by upregulating genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis, FAO, oxidative phosphorylation, and thermogenesis (1).”

    From The Role of Exercise in the Interplay between Myokines, Hepatokines, Osteokines, Adipokines, and Modulation of Inflammation for Energy Substrate Redistribution and Fat Mass Loss: A Review (2020) · cites this paper as [104]

    The Discussion and Results (page numbers unavailable) report that BAIBA induces a browning gene program in white adipose tissue in vitro and in vivo, including thermogenic genes UCP-1 and CIDEA. The paper reports fatty-acid β-oxidation gene upregulation in the liver, not as part of WAT browning, and does not establish upregulation of an oxidative-phosphorylation gene program in WAT. Irisin has a separate citation in the citing sentence and is not the part attributed to this paper. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Lin J Wu H Tarr PT Zhang CY Wu ZD Boss O Michael LF Puigserver P Isotani E Olson EN Transcriptional co-activator PGC-1 alpha drives the formation of slow-twitch muscle fibres Nature 2002b 418 797 801 12181572

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Authors
Roberts, L. D., Boström, P., O’Sullivan, J. F., Schinzel, R. T., Lewis, G. D., Dejam, A., Lee, Y.-K., Palma, M. J., Calhoun, S., Georgiadi, A., Chen, M.-H., Ramachandran, V. S., Larson, M. G., Bouchard, C., Rankinen, T., Souza, A. L., Clish, C. B., Wang, T. J., Estall, J. L., Soukas, A. A., Cowan, C. A., Spiegelman, B. M., & Gerszten, R. E.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Broad Institute (US)
  • Karolinska Institutet (SE)
  • Boston University (US)
  • Pennington Biomedical Research Center (US)
  • Montreal Clinical Research Institute (CA)
Corresponding author
Gerszten, Robert E.
Venue
Cell Metabolism
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-01
Volume
19
Issue
1
Pages
96-108
ISSN
1550-4131 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1974559463
Cited by
643
References
62
Citations by year
2026: 49 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 57 · 2023: 62 · 2022: 65 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 55 · 2019: 59 · 2018: 50 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 51 · 2015: 42 · 2014: 21
FWCI
32.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell Metabolism (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (n01hc25195-41-0-1)
  • National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (N01‐HC25195, R01HL098280, N01-HC-025195, R01HL045670)
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R01DK095384, R01DK031405, DK-31405, R37DK031405, R01DK081572)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
  • 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
Keywords
beta-aminoisobutyric acid, myokines, PGC-1α, brown adipose tissue browning, white adipose tissue, hepatic beta-oxidation, PPARα, physical activity, glucose homeostasis, cardiometabolic risk factors
MeSH terms
Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1-alpha, Aminoisobutyric Acids, Animals, Adipose Tissue, Brown, Cardiovascular Diseases, Cell Differentiation, Gene Expression Regulation, Glucose Tolerance Test, Humans, Liver, Metabolic Diseases, Organ Specificity, Oxidation-Reduction, Phenotype, Physical Conditioning, Animal, Risk Factors, Transcription Factors, Transcription, Genetic, Weight Gain, Exercise, PPAR alpha, Mice, Adipose Tissue, White, Adipocytes, Brown, Adipocytes, White, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

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