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Updated: Oct 3, 2025

Determining Basal Energy Expenditure and the Capacity of Thermogenic Adipocytes to Expend Energy in Obese Mice
Published on: November 11, 2021
Activating Human Adipose Tissue with the β3-Adrenergic Agonist Mirabegron
Kong Y Chen1,2, Robert J Brychta3,4, Nikita S Israni3,4
1Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Diabetes, Bethesda, MD, USA. kong.chen@nih.gov.
Abstract:
An appealing strategy for treatment of metabolic disease in humans is activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT), a thermogenic organ best visualized through 18F-FDG PET/CT. BAT has been activated to varying degrees by mild cold exposure. However, this approach can cause undesirable stress, and there remains no consensus protocol. Here, we describe standardized methods for both acute and chronic activation of BAT using the orally administered β3-adrenergic receptor (AR) agonist, mirabegron. Acute pharmacological stimulation has enabled quantification of whole-body BAT volume and metabolic activity using PET/CT imaging, and chronic stimulation increases these properties of BAT over time.
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