Stimulating Human Brown Adipose Tissue into Combating Obesity

A UCLA-led team of researchers has found nerve pathways that supply brown adipose tissue (BAT), a type of tissue that releases chemical energy from fat metabolism as heat — a finding that could pave the way toward using it to treat obesity and related metabolic conditions.

The researchers have for the first time detailed this nerve supply and provided examples of how manipulating it can change BAT activity, marking a first step toward understanding how to use it therapeutically, said senior author Dr. Preethi Srikanthan. The largest deposits of BAT are in the neck.

The researchers dissected the necks of eight cadavers to trace the distribution of sympathetic nerve branches in the fat pad above the clavicle. They found nerve branches in all the dissections from the third and fourth cervical nerves to BAT. 

Further, they demonstrated that BAT activity had changed in clinical cases where neck pathology, such as an increase in BAT temperature following removal of a tumor, had effected a change in the nerves.

The researchers hope to use the knowledge gleaned from this study to find a way to coax BAT into producing a constant source of fat-burning heat.

“By identifying the nerve pathways supplying BAT we hope to explore methods of chronically stimulating nerves to BAT and hopefully achieving similar therapeutic outcomes of weight loss.”

---

Sources:

Shumpei Mori, Ryan S. Beyer, Breno Bernardes de Souza, Julie M. Sorg, Donald B. Hoover, Harold S. Sacks, Michael C. Fishbein, Grace Chang, Warwick J. Peacock, Maie A. St. John, James Law, Micheal E. Symonds, Olujimi A. Ajijola, Kalyanam Shivkumar, Preethi Srikanthan. Sympathetic innervation of the supraclavicular brown adipose tissue: A detailed anatomical study. PLOS ONE, 2023; 18 (10): e0290455 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290455

University of California – Los Angeles Health Sciences. (2023, October 4). Stimulating human brown adipose tissue into combating obesity. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 5, 2023 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/10/231004150509.htm

Photo by Andres  Ayrton from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/anonymous-obese-lady-touching-stomach-in-gym-before-workout-6551130/