Activating Fat Tissue with the Drug Mirabegron Shows Promise in the Fight Against Obesity

What is it about?

Fat tissue, adipose tissue, is conventionally thought of as a storage organ but has now been found to exist in two predominant forms, white and brown. White adipose tissue stores excess lipids in order to have them available for when a mammal needs energy when they are not eating. Brown adipose tissue is the fat organ in newborn babies and hibernating animals that allows them to keep warm as it possesses a specialized protein. This specialized protein can be activated through cold exposure, exercise, and various pharmacological compounds. New research has found that there are special cells in white adipose tissue that allow it to also have this special protein and make it be “active” where it can influence whole-body metabolism. These brown-like white adipose tissue cells are termed beige adipose and have become popular as a possible therapeutic target for diseases like obesity and metabolic syndrome. While cold temperatures produce the most significant response in activating beige cells, pharmacological compounds have also been studied more recently. In this review, we highlight how mirabegron, a drug used for treating overactive bladder, is the safest and most promising pharmacological compound of its class to activate adipose tissue and influence whole-body health.

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Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash

Photo by Diana Polekhina on Unsplash

Why is it important?

With obesity rates continuously climbing, the need for therapeutic methodologies that can be used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise to help patients lose weight is critical.