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Metabolism

Leptin's role in starvation

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 14, page 129 (2018)Cite this article

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The shift from glucose to fat oxidation is critical for survival during long-term starvation and is thought to be predominately orchestrated by insulin. A new study led by Gerald Shulman now identifies a novel role for leptin in mediating a glucose–fatty acid cycle that promotes this metabolic shift to maintain euglycaemia in rats during starvation.

A novel positional isotopomer NMR tracer analysis (PINTA) method was developed to measure in vivo rates of hepatic glycogenolysis, gluconeogenesis and mitochondrial oxidation, and was combined with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) analyses and stable isotope dilution methods to assess rates of whole-body glucose turnover, white adipose tissue (WAT) lipolysis, alanine turnover and lactate turnover. “This comprehensive metabolic approach allowed us to determine what key processes contribute to the maintenance of euglycaemia during the transition from the fed to the long-term fasted state,” explains Shulman.

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References

  1. Perry, R. J. et al. Leptin mediates a glucose-fatty acid cycle to maintain glucose homeostasis in starvation. Cell https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2017.12.001 (2018)

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Authors
  1. Conor A. Bradley
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Bradley, C. Leptin's role in starvation. Nat Rev Endocrinol 14, 129 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2018.6

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