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Speakman JR, Hall KD. Models of body weight and fatness regulation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220231. [PMID: 37661735 PMCID: PMC10475878 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0231] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 09/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Body weight and fatness appear to be regulated phenomena. Several different theoretical models are available to capture the essence of this idea. These include the set-point, dynamic equilibrium, adiposity force, control theory-settling point, Hall-Guo, operation point and dual intervention point (DIP) models. The set-point model posits a single reference point around which levels of fat are regulated. The dynamic equilibrium model suggests that the apparent regulation of body fat around a reference point is an illusion owing to the necessary impacts of weight change on energy expenditure. Control theory focuses on the importance of feedback gain and suggests set-point and dynamic equilibrium are ends of a continuum of feedback gain. Control theory models have also been called 'settling point' models. The Hall-Guo, operation point and DIP models also bring together the set-point and dynamic equilibrium ideas into a single framework. The DIP proposes a zone of indifference where dynamic equilibrium 'regulation' predominates, bounded by upper and lower intervention points beyond which physiological mechanisms are activated. The drifty gene hypothesis is an idea explaining where this individual variation in the upper intervention point might come from. We conclude that further experiments to test between the models are sorely required. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Causes of obesity: theories, conjectures and evidence (Part II)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- John R. Speakman
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, 518055, People's Republic of China
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK
- Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, People's Republic of China
- China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, 110122, People's Republic of China
| | - Kevin D. Hall
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
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von Essen G, Lindsund E, Maldonado EM, Zouhar P, Cannon B, Nedergaard J. Highly recruited brown adipose tissue does not in itself protect against obesity. Mol Metab 2023; 76:101782. [PMID: 37499977 PMCID: PMC10432997 DOI: 10.1016/j.molmet.2023.101782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The possibility to counteract the development of obesity in humans by recruiting brown or brite/beige adipose tissue (and thus UCP1) has attracted much attention. Here we examine if a diet that can activate diet-induced thermogenesis can exploit pre-enhanced amounts of UCP1 to counteract the development of diet-induced obesity. METHODS To investigate the anti-obesity significance of highly augmented amounts of UCP1 for control of body energy reserves, we physiologically increased total UCP1 amounts by recruitment of brown and brite/beige tissues in mice. We then examined the influence of the augmented UCP1 levels on metabolic parameters when the mice were exposed to a high-fat/high-sucrose diet under thermoneutral conditions. RESULTS The total UCP1 levels achieved were about 50-fold higher in recruited than in non-recruited mice. Contrary to underlying expectations, in the mice with highly recruited UCP1 and exposed to a high-fat/high-sucrose diet the thermogenic capacity of this UCP1 was completely inactivate. The mice even transiently (in an adipostat-like manner) demonstrated a higher metabolic efficiency and fat gain than did non-recruited mice. This was accomplished without altering energy expenditure or food absorption efficiency. The metabolic efficiency here was indistinguishable from that of mice totally devoid of UCP1. CONCLUSIONS Although UCP1 protein may be available, it is not inevitably utilized for diet-induced thermogenesis. Thus, although attempts to recruit UCP1 in humans may become successful as such, it is only if constant activation of the UCP1 is also achieved that amelioration of obesity development could be attained.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriella von Essen
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, The Arrhenius Laboratories F3, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Erik Lindsund
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, The Arrhenius Laboratories F3, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Elaina M Maldonado
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, The Arrhenius Laboratories F3, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Petr Zouhar
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, The Arrhenius Laboratories F3, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden; Laboratory of Adipose Tissue Biology, Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Videnska 1083, CZ-142 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Barbara Cannon
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, The Arrhenius Laboratories F3, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jan Nedergaard
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, The Arrhenius Laboratories F3, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
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Lund J, Clemmensen C. Physiological protection against weight gain: evidence from overfeeding studies and future directions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220229. [PMID: 37482786 PMCID: PMC10363696 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 07/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Body weight is under physiological regulation. When body fat mass decreases, a series of responses are triggered to promote weight regain by increasing food intake and decreasing energy expenditure. Analogous, in response to experimental overfeeding, excessive weight gain is counteracted by a reduction in food intake and possibly by an increase in energy expenditure. While low blood leptin and other hormones defend against weight loss, the signals that oppose overfeeding-induced fat mass expansion are still unknown. In this article, we discuss insights gained from overfeeding interventions in humans and intragastric overfeeding studies in rodents. We summarize the knowledge on the relative contributions of energy intake, energy expenditure and energy excretion to the physiological defence against overfeeding-induced weight gain. Furthermore, we explore literature supporting the existence of unidentified endocrine and non-endocrine pathways that defend against weight gain. Finally, we discuss the physiological drivers of constitutional thinness and suggest that overfeeding of individuals with constitutional thinness represents a gateway to understand the physiology of weight gain resistance in humans. Experimental overfeeding, combined with modern multi-omics techniques, has the potential to unveil the long-sought signalling pathways that protect against weight gain. Discovering these mechanisms could give rise to new treatments for obesity. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Causes of obesity: theories, conjectures and evidence (Part I)'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jens Lund
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Christoffer Clemmensen
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research. Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2200 Copenhagen, Denmark
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Speakman JR, Elmquist JK. Obesity: an evolutionary context. LIFE METABOLISM 2022; 1:10-24. [PMID: 36394061 PMCID: PMC9642988 DOI: 10.1093/lifemeta/loac002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2022] [Revised: 02/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
People completely lacking body fat (lipodystrophy/lipoatrophy) and those with severe obesity both show profound metabolic and other health issues. Regulating levels of body fat somewhere between these limits would, therefore, appear to be adaptive. Two different models might be contemplated. More traditional is a set point (SP) where the levels are regulated around a fixed level. Alternatively, dual-intervention point (DIP) is a system that tolerates fairly wide variation but is activated when critically high or low levels are breached. The DIP system seems to fit our experience much better than an SP, and models suggest that it is more likely to have evolved. A DIP system may have evolved because of two contrasting selection pressures. At the lower end, we may have been selected to avoid low levels of fat as a buffer against starvation, to avoid disease-induced anorexia, and to support reproduction. At the upper end, we may have been selected to avoid excess storage because of the elevated risks of predation. This upper limit of control seems to have malfunctioned because some of us deposit large fat stores, with important negative health effects. Why has evolution not protected us against this problem? One possibility is that the protective system slowly fell apart due to random mutations after we dramatically reduced the risk of being predated during our evolutionary history. By chance, it fell apart more in some people than others, and these people are now unable to effectively manage their weight in the face of the modern food glut. To understand the evolutionary context of obesity, it is important to separate the adaptive reason for storing some fat (i.e. the lower intervention point), from the nonadaptive reason for storing lots of fat (a broken upper intervention point). The DIP model has several consequences, showing how we understand the obesity problem and what happens when we attempt to treat it.
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Affiliation(s)
- John R Speakman
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Metabolic Health, Center for Energy Metabolism and Reproduction, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- CAS Center of Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Kunming, China
| | - Joel K Elmquist
- Departments of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology, Center for Hypothalamic Research, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA
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Watts AG, Kanoski SE, Sanchez-Watts G, Langhans W. The physiological control of eating: signals, neurons, and networks. Physiol Rev 2022; 102:689-813. [PMID: 34486393 PMCID: PMC8759974 DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00028.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
During the past 30 yr, investigating the physiology of eating behaviors has generated a truly vast literature. This is fueled in part by a dramatic increase in obesity and its comorbidities that has coincided with an ever increasing sophistication of genetically based manipulations. These techniques have produced results with a remarkable degree of cell specificity, particularly at the cell signaling level, and have played a lead role in advancing the field. However, putting these findings into a brain-wide context that connects physiological signals and neurons to behavior and somatic physiology requires a thorough consideration of neuronal connections: a field that has also seen an extraordinary technological revolution. Our goal is to present a comprehensive and balanced assessment of how physiological signals associated with energy homeostasis interact at many brain levels to control eating behaviors. A major theme is that these signals engage sets of interacting neural networks throughout the brain that are defined by specific neural connections. We begin by discussing some fundamental concepts, including ones that still engender vigorous debate, that provide the necessary frameworks for understanding how the brain controls meal initiation and termination. These include key word definitions, ATP availability as the pivotal regulated variable in energy homeostasis, neuropeptide signaling, homeostatic and hedonic eating, and meal structure. Within this context, we discuss network models of how key regions in the endbrain (or telencephalon), hypothalamus, hindbrain, medulla, vagus nerve, and spinal cord work together with the gastrointestinal tract to enable the complex motor events that permit animals to eat in diverse situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan G Watts
- The Department of Biological Sciences, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Scott E Kanoski
- The Department of Biological Sciences, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Graciela Sanchez-Watts
- The Department of Biological Sciences, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Wolfgang Langhans
- Physiology and Behavior Laboratory, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule-Zürich, Schwerzenbach, Switzerland
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Wang G. Body Mass Dynamics Is Determined by the Metabolic Ohm's Law and Adipocyte-Autonomous Fat Mass Homeostasis. iScience 2020; 23:101176. [PMID: 32480131 PMCID: PMC7262567 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2020] [Revised: 04/05/2020] [Accepted: 05/14/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
An ODE model integrating metabolic mechanisms with clinical data reveals an Ohm's law governing lifetime body mass dynamics, where fat and lean tissues are analogous to a parallel nonlinear capacitor and resistor, respectively. The law unexpectedly decouples weight stability (a cell-autonomous property of adipocytes) and weight change (a parabolic trajectory governed by Ohm's law). In middle age, insulin resistance causes fat accumulation to avoid excessive body shrinkage in old age. Moderate middle-age spread is thus natural, not an anomaly caused by hypothalamic defects, as proposed by lipostatic theory. These discoveries provide valuable insights into health care practices such as weight control and health assessment, explain certain observed phenomena, make testable predictions, and may help to resolve major conundrums in the field. The ODE model, which is more comprehensive than Ohm's law, is useful to study metabolism at the detailed microscopic levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guanyu Wang
- Department of Biology, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Computational Science and Material Design, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Cell Microenviroment and Disease Research, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Cell Microenviroment, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China.
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Restriction of essential amino acids dictates the systemic metabolic response to dietary protein dilution. Nat Commun 2020; 11:2894. [PMID: 32518324 PMCID: PMC7283339 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16568-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2019] [Accepted: 05/12/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Dietary protein dilution (DPD) promotes metabolic-remodelling and -health but the precise nutritional components driving this response remain elusive. Here, by mimicking amino acid (AA) supply from a casein-based diet, we demonstrate that restriction of dietary essential AA (EAA), but not non-EAA, drives the systemic metabolic response to total AA deprivation; independent from dietary carbohydrate supply. Furthermore, systemic deprivation of threonine and tryptophan, independent of total AA supply, are both adequate and necessary to confer the systemic metabolic response to both diet, and genetic AA-transport loss, driven AA restriction. Dietary threonine restriction (DTR) retards the development of obesity-associated metabolic dysfunction. Liver-derived fibroblast growth factor 21 is required for the metabolic remodelling with DTR. Strikingly, hepatocyte-selective establishment of threonine biosynthetic capacity reverses the systemic metabolic response to DTR. Taken together, our studies of mice demonstrate that the restriction of EAA are sufficient and necessary to confer the systemic metabolic effects of DPD. Dietary protein dilution, where protein is reduced and replaced by other nutrient sources without caloric restriction, promotes metabolic health via the hepatokine Fgf21. Here, the authors show that essential amino acids threonine and tryptophan are necessary and sufficient to induce these effects.
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Contreras RE, Schriever SC, Pfluger PT. Physiological and Epigenetic Features of Yoyo Dieting and Weight Control. Front Genet 2019; 10:1015. [PMID: 31921275 PMCID: PMC6917653 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2019.01015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2019] [Accepted: 09/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Obesity and being overweight have become a worldwide epidemic affecting more than 1.9 billion adults and 340 million children. Efforts to curb this global health burden by developing effective long-term non-surgical weight loss interventions continue to fail due to weight regain after weight loss. Weight cycling, often referred to as Yoyo dieting, is driven by physiological counter-regulatory mechanisms that aim at preserving energy, i.e. decreased energy expenditure, increased energy intake, and impaired brain-periphery communication. Models based on genetically determined set points explained some of the weight control mechanisms, but exact molecular underpinnings remained elusive. Today, gene–environment interactions begin to emerge as likely drivers for the obesogenic memory effect associated with weight cycling. Here, epigenetic mechanisms, including histone modifications and DNA methylation, appear as likely factors that underpin long-lasting deleterious adaptations or an imprinted obesogenic memory to prevent weight loss maintenance. The first part summarizes our current knowledge on the physiology of weight cycling by discussing human and murine studies on the Yoyo-dieting phenomenon and physiological adaptations associated with weight loss and weight re-gain. The second part provides an overview on known associations between obesity and epigenetic modifications. We further interrogate the roles of epigenetic mechanisms in the CNS control of cognitive functions as well as reward and addictive behaviors, and subsequently discuss whether such mechanisms play a role in weight control. The final two parts describe major opportunities and challenges associated with studying epigenetic mechanisms in the CNS with its highly heterogenous cell populations, and provide a summary of recent technological advances that will help to delineate whether an obese memory is based upon epigenetic mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raian E Contreras
- Research Unit Neurobiology of Diabetes, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany.,Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany.,German Centre for Diabetes Research (DZD), Neuherberg, Germany.,Neurobiology of Diabetes, TUM School of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Sonja C Schriever
- Research Unit Neurobiology of Diabetes, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany.,Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany.,German Centre for Diabetes Research (DZD), Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Paul T Pfluger
- Research Unit Neurobiology of Diabetes, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany.,Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany.,German Centre for Diabetes Research (DZD), Neuherberg, Germany.,Neurobiology of Diabetes, TUM School of Medicine, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
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Control-theory models of body-weight regulation and body-weight-regulatory appetite. Appetite 2019; 144:104440. [PMID: 31494154 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2019.104440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Revised: 08/08/2019] [Accepted: 09/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Human body weight (BW), or some variable related to it, is physiologically regulated. That is, negative feedback from changes in BW elicits compensatory influences on appetite, which may be called BW-regulatory appetite, and a component of energy expenditure (EE) called adaptive thermogenesis (AdEE). BW-regulatory appetite is of general significance because it appears to be related to a variety of aspects of human appetite beyond just energy intake. BW regulation, BW-regulatory appetite and AdEE are frequently discussed using concepts derived from control theory, which is the mathematical description of dynamic systems involving negative feedback. The aim of this review is to critically assess these discussions. Two general types of negative-feedback control have been invoked to describe BW regulation, set-point control and simple negative-feedback control, often called settling-point control in the BW literature. The distinguishing feature of set-point systems is the existence of an externally controlled target level of regulation, the set point. The performance of almost any negative-feedback regulatory system, however, can be modeled on the basis of feedback gain without including a set point. In both set-point and simple negative-feedback models of BW regulation, the precision of regulation is usually determined mainly by feedback gain, which refers to the transformations of feedback into compensatory changes in BW-regulatory appetite and AdEE. Stable BW most probably represents equilibria shaped by feedback gain and tonic open-loop challenges, especially obesogenic environments. Data indicate that simple negative-feedback control accurately models human BW regulation and that the set-point concept is superfluous unless its neuroendocrine representation is found in the brain. Additional research aimed at testing control-theory models in humans and non-human animals is warranted.
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