Cited by 374Metabolism, Diabetes, and CancerSirtuins and Resveratrol in MedicineBiochemical and Molecular Research

Sensing of energy and nutrients by AMP-activated protein kinase

Open access
Hardie, D Grahame·2011·The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Abstract

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a cellular energy sensor that exists in almost all eukaryotes. Genetic studies in lower eukaryotes suggest that the ancestral role of AMPK was in response to starvation for a carbon source and that AMPK is involved in life-span extension in response to caloric restriction. In mammals, AMPK is activated by an increasing cellular AMP:ATP ratio (which signifies a decrease in energy) caused by metabolic stresses that interfere with ATP production (eg, hypoxia) or that accelerate ATP consumption (eg, muscle contraction). Because glucose deprivation can increase the AMP:ATP ratio, AMPK can also act as a glucose sensor. AMPK activation occurs by a dual mechanism that involves allosteric activation and phosphorylation by upstream kinases. Once activated, AMPK switches on catabolic pathways that generate ATP (eg, the uptake and oxidation of glucose and fatty acids and mitochondrial biogenesis) while switching off ATP-consuming, anabolic pathways (eg, the synthesis of lipids, glucose, glycogen, and proteins). In addition to the acute effects via direct phosphorylation of metabolic enzymes, AMPK has longer-term effects by regulating transcription. These features make AMPK an ideal drug target in the treatment of metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The antidiabetic drug metformin (which is derived from an herbal remedy) works in part by activating AMPK, whereas many xenobiotics or "nutraceuticals," including resveratrol, quercetin, and berberine, are also AMPK activators. Most of these agents activate AMPK because they inhibit mitochondrial function.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3945/ajcn.110.001925

Cites

67 of 67 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

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?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Hardie, D. G.
Affiliations
University of Dundee (GB)
Corresponding author
Hardie, D Grahame
Venue
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2011-04
Volume
93
Issue
4
Pages
891S-896S
ISSN
0002-9165 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2123729941
Cited by
372
References
67
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 38 · 2013: 40 · 2012: 41
FWCI
4.30
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Discovery Research Portal (University of Dundee) (publishedVersion)
Funders
Wellcome Trust
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Metabolism, Diabetes, and Cancer
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Sirtuins and Resveratrol in Medicine
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Biochemical and Molecular Research
Keywords
AMPK, nutrient sensing, AMP/ATP ratio, glucose detection, starvation response, caloric restriction, lifespan extension, allosteric activation, mitochondrial biogenesis, metabolic regulation, transcriptional regulation, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, metformin, nutraceuticals, resveratrol, quercetin, berberine
MeSH terms
Adenosine Monophosphate, Adenosine Triphosphate, Animals, Energy Metabolism, Gene Expression Regulation, Glucose, Metabolic Diseases, Metformin, Mitochondria, Phosphorylation, Plant Extracts, Signal Transduction, AMP-Activated Protein Kinases

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