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Energy homeostasis

Lipid cycling isn’t all futile

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Fatty acids generated through lipolysis are constantly re-esterified into triglycerides in what is known as the glyceride–fatty acid futile cycle. A recent quantification of the activity of this futile cycle in adipocytes suggests that it may have manifold implications for systemic energy homeostasis.

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Fig. 1: The glyceride–FA futile-cycle pathway.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Translational Nutrition Biology, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Anand Kumar Sharma & Christian Wolfrum

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  1. Anand Kumar Sharma
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  2. Christian Wolfrum
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The authors contributed equally.

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Correspondence to Anand Kumar Sharma or Christian Wolfrum.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Sharma, A.K., Wolfrum, C. Lipid cycling isn’t all futile. Nat Metab 5, 540–541 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-023-00779-x

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