Microbiota depletion promotes browning of white adipose tissue and reduces obesity
Open accessAbstract
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) promotes a lean and healthy phenotype and improves insulin sensitivity. In response to cold or exercise, brown fat cells also emerge in the white adipose tissue (WAT; also known as beige cells), a process known as browning. Here we show that the development of functional beige fat in the inguinal subcutaneous adipose tissue (ingSAT) and perigonadal visceral adipose tissue (pgVAT) is promoted by the depletion of microbiota either by means of antibiotic treatment or in germ-free mice. This leads to improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity and decreased white fat and adipocyte size in lean mice, obese leptin-deficient (ob/ob) mice and high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Such metabolic improvements are mediated by eosinophil infiltration, enhanced type 2 cytokine signaling and M2 macrophage polarization in the subcutaneous white fat depots of microbiota-depleted animals. The metabolic phenotype and the browning of the subcutaneous fat are impaired by the suppression of type 2 cytokine signaling, and they are reversed by recolonization of the antibiotic-treated or germ-free mice with microbes. These results provide insight into the microbiota-fat signaling axis and beige-fat development in health and metabolic disease.
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Gut microbiota seems to play an important role as a regulator of WAT browning.
“In addition, gut microbiota also seems to play an important role as a regulator of WAT browning.”
From Mitochondrial Uncoupling: A Key Controller of Biological Processes in Physiology and Diseases (2019) · cites this paper as [246]
Total depletion of gut microbiota via antibiotics or germ-free conditions promotes WAT browning in subcutaneous and perigonadal WAT in mice.
“Indeed, total depletion of gut microbiota via antibiotics or germ-free conditions promotes WAT browning in subcutaneous and perigonadal WAT in mice [246].”
From Mitochondrial Uncoupling: A Key Controller of Biological Processes in Physiology and Diseases (2019) · cites this paper as [246]
The effect of microbiota depletion on WAT browning is totally counter-balanced by microbial recolonization of the gastrointestinal tract.
“The effect is totally counter-balanced by microbial recolonization of the gastrointestinal tract [246].”
From Mitochondrial Uncoupling: A Key Controller of Biological Processes in Physiology and Diseases (2019) · cites this paper as [246]
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- Authors
- Suárez-Zamorano, N., Fabbiano, S., Chevalier, C., Stojanović, O., Colin, D. J., Stevanović, A., Veyrat-Durebex, C., Tarallo, V., Rigo, D., Germain, S., Ilievska, M., Montet, X., Seimbille, Y., Hapfelmeier, S., & Trajkovski, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Geneva (CH)
- University Hospital of Geneva (CH)
- University of Bern (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Trajkovski, Mirko
- ORCID
- Venue
- Nature Medicine
- Published
- 2015-11-16
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1497-1501
- ISSN
- 1078-8956 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-170X
- PMC
- PMC4675088
- OpenAlex
- W2189933127
- Cited by
- 403
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 42 · 2020: 53 · 2019: 36 · 2018: 48 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 30.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Funders
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (144886)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Keywords
- gut microbiota, white adipose tissue browning, beige adipocytes, obesity, insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, eosinophils, type 2 cytokines, M2 macrophage polarization, germ-free mice, antibiotic therapy, ob/ob mice, high-fat diet, subcutaneous adipose tissue, visceral adipose tissue
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Adipose Tissue, Brown, Gene Expression Regulation, Germ-Free Life, Glucose, Glucose Tolerance Test, Insulin, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Obesity, RNA, Messenger, Signal Transduction, Cytokines, Adipocytes, Cell Size, Subcutaneous Fat, Intra-Abdominal Fat, Adipose Tissue, White, Microbiota
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