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Short-chain fatty acids: possible regulators of insulin secretion

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Abstract

The benefits of gut microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) towards health and metabolism have been emerging since the past decade. Extensive studies have been carried out to understand the mechanisms responsible in initiating the functionalities of these SCFAs towards body tissues, which greatly involves the SCFA-specific receptors free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFAR2) and free fatty acid receptor 3 (FFAR3). This review intends to discuss the potential of SCFAs particularly in regulating insulin secretion in pancreatic β-cells, by explaining the production of SCFAs in the gut, the fate of each SCFAs after their production, involvement of FFAR2 and FFAR3 signalling mechanisms and their impacts on insulin secretion. Increased secretion of insulin after SCFAs treatments were reported in many studies, but contradicting evidence also exist in several other studies. Hence, no clear consensus was achieved in determining the true potential of SCFA in regulating insulin secretion. In this review, we explore how such differences were possible and hopefully be able to shed some perspectives in understanding SCFAs-signalling behaviour and preferences.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Fundamental Grant Research Scheme Malaysia under the Project Number 04-01-18-1930FR (Vot No. 5540055).

Funding

This study was funded by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) FRGS fund under the Project Number 04–01-18-1930FR (Vot No. 5540055).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Nur Suraya Ashikin Rosli, Shafinaz Abd Gani, Mohd Ezuan Khayat, Uswatun Hasanah Zaidan & Mohd Badrin Hanizam Abdul Rahim

  2. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Amin Ismail

  3. Institut Biosains, NaturMeds, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Mohd Badrin Hanizam Abdul Rahim

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  1. Nur Suraya Ashikin Rosli
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  4. Uswatun Hasanah Zaidan
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Contributions

Conceptualisation and writing original draft, NSAR; editing and reviewing, SAG, MEK, UHZ, AI, MBHAR; funding acquisition, MBHAR.

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Correspondence to Mohd Badrin Hanizam Abdul Rahim.

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Rosli, N.S.A., Abd Gani, S., Khayat, M.E. et al. Short-chain fatty acids: possible regulators of insulin secretion. Mol Cell Biochem 478, 517–530 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-022-04528-8

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