Isometric thermogenesis as applied to human energy expenditure refers to heat production resulting from increased muscle tension. While most physical activities consist of both dynamic and static (isometric) muscle actions, the isometric component is very often essential for the optimal performance of dynamic work given its role in coordinating posture during standing, walking and most physical...

The mechanisms by which CRH and related peptides (i.e. the CRH/urocortin system) exert their control over thermogenesis and weight regulation have until now focused only upon their effects on brain centers controlling sympathetic outflow. Using a method that involves repeated oxygen uptake determinations in intact mouse skeletal muscle, we report here that CRH can act directly on skeletal muscl...

Whether or not the processes which constitute thermogenesis play a significant role in the regulation of energy balance has long been a matter of controversy. As some of the other contributors to this symposium will testify the controversy is still far from settled. It is our view, however, that in certain experimental circumstances the evidence in favour of a quantitatively important role for ...

Catch-up growth is a risk factor for later obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. We show here that after growth arrest by semistarvation, rats refed the same amount of a low-fat diet as controls show 1) lower energy expenditure due to diminished thermogenesis that favors accelerated fat deposition or catch-up fat and 2) normal glucose tolerance but higher plasma insulin after a...

Thermogenesis, the production of heat energy, is an essential component of the homeostatic repertoire to maintain body temperature in mammals and birds during the challenge of low environmental temperature and plays a key role in elevating body temperature during the febrile response to infection. The primary sources of neurally regulated metabolic heat production are mitochondrial oxidation in...

OBJECTIVE Metabolic challenges, such as a cold environment, stimulate sympathetic neural efferent activity to white adipose tissue (WAT) to drive lipolysis, thereby increasing the availability of free fatty acids as one source of fuel for brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis. WAT is also innervated by sensory nerve fibers that network to metabolic brain areas; moreover, activation of these ...

Cold-induced thermogenesis increases energy expenditure and can reduce body weight in mammals, so the genes involved in it are thought to be potential therapeutic targets for treating obesity and diabetes. In the quest for more effective therapies, a great deal of research has been conducted to elucidate the regulatory mechanism of cold-induced thermogenesis. Over the last decade, a large numbe...

2 adrenergic receptor ( 2-AR) agonists have been used as antihypertensive agents, in the management of drug withdrawal, and as sedative analgesics. Since 2-AR agonists also influence the regulation of body temperature, we explored their potential as antipyretic agents. This study delineates the central neural substrate for the inhibition of rat brown adipose tissue (BAT) and shivering thermogen...

Chawla and colleagues find that interleukin-33 is a critical controller of brown and beige adipocyte thermogenesis. Its primary impact is on the splicing of transcripts encoding uncoupling protein-1, resulting in uncoupled respiration and effective heat generation. Interleukin-33 acts perinatally to ensure adaptive thermogenesis lifelong.

The occurrence of non-shivering thermogenesis in birds has long been a controversial issue. Although birds are endothermic vertebrates, sharing with mammals (placental mammals and marsupials) a common ancestor, they do not possess brown adipose tissue or a similar type of tissue, unlike their mammalian counterparts. Some bird species are, however, able to withstand very low ambient temperatures...