Cited by 590Autophagy in Disease and TherapyPomegranate: compositions and health benefitsGenetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms

The mitophagy activator urolithin A is safe and induces a molecular signature of improved mitochondrial and cellular health in humans

Open access
Andreux, Pénélope A., Blanco-Bose, William, Ryu, Dongryeol, Burdet, Frédéric, Ibberson, Mark, Aebischer, Patrick, Auwerx, Johan, Singh, Anurag +1 more·2019·Nature Metabolism

Abstract

Urolithin A (UA) is a natural dietary, microflora-derived metabolite shown to stimulate mitophagy and improve muscle health in old animals and in preclinical models of aging 1. Here, we report the results of a first-in-human clinical trial in which we administered UA, either as a single dose or as multiple doses over a 4-week period, to healthy, sedentary elderly individuals. We show that UA has a favourable safety profile (primary outcome). UA was bioavailable in plasma at all doses tested, and 4 weeks of treatment with UA at doses of 500 mg and 1,000 mg modulated plasma acylcarnitines and skeletal muscle mitochondrial gene expression in elderly individuals (secondary outcomes). These observed effects on mitochondrial biomarkers show that UA induces a molecular signature of improved mitochondrial and cellular health following regular oral consumption in humans.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/s42255-019-0073-4

Cites

30 of 30 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Administration of urolithin A in the first-in-human clinical trial is safe and induces a molecular signature of mitochondrial health in the skeletal muscle of healthy sedentary elderly individuals.

    “Administration of urolithin A in the first-in-human clinical trial has also been shown to be safe and to induce a molecular signature of mitochondrial health in the skeletal muscle of healthy sedentary elderly individuals [161].”
  • Oral administration of urolithin A improves mitochondrial function and promotes muscle health in the elderly.

    “Moreover, oral administration of urolithin A improves mitochondrial function and promotes muscle health in the elderly [94].”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Andreux, P. A., Blanco-Bose, W., Ryu, D., Burdet, F., Ibberson, M., Aebischer, P., Auwerx, J., Singh, A., & Rinsch, C.
Affiliations
  • Amazentis (Switzerland) (CH)
  • SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (CH)
  • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
Corresponding author
Rinsch, Chris
Venue
Nature Metabolism
Published
2019-06-14
Volume
1
Issue
6
Pages
595-603
ISSN
2522-5812 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2951032968
Cited by
590
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 118 · 2025: 100 · 2024: 78 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 94 · 2021: 61 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 12
FWCI
42.06
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Metabolism (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Pomegranate: compositions and health benefits
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
Keywords
urolithin A, mitophagy, mitochondrial health, skeletal muscle, aging, older adults, safety, bioavailability, acylcarnitines, mitochondrial gene expression, gut microbiota metabolites
MeSH terms
Aged, Coumarins, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Humans, Mitochondria, Sedentary Behavior, Mitophagy

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review