Cited by 687Adipose Tissue and MetabolismPhysiological and biochemical adaptationsThermoregulation and physiological responses

Thermogenic Mechanisms and Their Hormonal Regulation

Silva, J. Enrique·2006·Physiological Reviews

Abstract

Increased heat generation from biological processes is inherent to homeothermy. Homeothermic species produce more heat from sustaining a more active metabolism as well as from reducing fuel efficiency. This article reviews the mechanisms used by homeothermic species to generate more heat and their regulation largely by thyroid hormone (TH) and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Thermogenic mechanisms antecede homeothermy, but in homeothermic species they are activated and regulated. Some of these mechanisms increase ATP utilization (same amount of heat per ATP), whereas others increase the heat resulting from aerobic ATP synthesis (more heat per ATP). Among the former, ATP utilization in the maintenance of ionic gradient through membranes seems quantitatively more important, particularly in birds. Regulated reduction of the proton-motive force to produce heat, originally believed specific to brown adipose tissue, is indeed an ancient thermogenic mechanism. A regulated proton leak has been described in the mitochondria of several tissues, but its precise mechanism remains undefined. This leak is more active in homeothermic species and is regulated by TH, explaining a significant fraction of its thermogenic effect. Homeothermic species generate additional heat, in a facultative manner, when obligatory thermogenesis and heat-saving mechanisms become limiting. Facultative thermogenesis is activated by the SNS but is modulated by TH. The type II iodothyronine deiodinase plays a critical role in modulating the amount of the active TH, T 3 , in BAT, thereby modulating the responses to SNS. Other hormones affect thermogenesis in an indirect or permissive manner, providing fuel and modulating thermogenesis depending on food availability, but they do not seem to have a primary role in temperature homeostasis. Thermogenesis has a very high energy cost. Cold adaptation and food availability may have been conflicting selection pressures accounting for the variability of thermogenesis in humans.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1152/physrev.00009.2005

Cites

259 of 259 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

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

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, 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?

  • Glucocorticoids do not directly increase thermogenesis, but they may have an important role in coordinating the thermogenic response to substrate and food availability.

    “Glucocorticoids similarly do not directly increase thermogenesis, but they may have an important role in coordinating the thermogenic response to substrate and food availability 65.”

    From Cellular bioenergetics as a target for obesity therapy (2010) · cites this paper as [65]

  • Type 2 iodothyronine deiodinase plays a critical role in regulating the amount of active thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine, in brown fat, thereby modulating adaptive thermogenesis.

    “Type 2 iodothyronine deiodinase plays a critical role in regulating the amount of active thyroid hormone, triiodothyronine, in brown fat, thereby modulating adaptive thermogenesis 64,65.”

    From Cellular bioenergetics as a target for obesity therapy (2010) · cites this paper as [65]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Silva, J. E.
Affiliations
Tufts University (US)
Corresponding author
Silva, J. Enrique
Venue
Physiological Reviews
Published
2006-04
Volume
86
Issue
2
Pages
435-464
ISSN
  • 0031-9333 (ISSN-L)
  • 1522-1210
OpenAlex
W2138100786
Cited by
687
References
259
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 47
FWCI
3.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Physiological Reviews (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Adipose Tissue and Metabolism
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Thermoregulation and physiological responses
Keywords
thermogenesis, homeothermy, thyroid hormones, sympathetic nervous system, proton leak, brown adipose tissue, iodothyronine deiodinase, type 2 deiodinase, ATP consumption, proton motive force, cold adaptation, food availability, temperature homeostasis, birds
MeSH terms
Animals, Homeostasis, Hormones, Humans, Sympathetic Nervous System, Thyroid Hormones, Thermogenesis

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