Submit a comment
Abstract
The mechanism underlying the regulation of basal metabolic rate by thyroid hormone remains unclear. Although it has been suggested that thyroid hormone might uncouple substrate oxidation from ATP synthesis, there are no data from studies on humans to support this hypothesis. To examine this possibility, we used a novel combined 13C/31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) approach to assess mitochondrial energy coupling in skeletal muscle of seven healthy adults before and after three days of triiodothyronine (T3) treatment. Rates of ATP synthesis and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle fluxes were measured by 31P and 13C NMR spectroscopy, respectively, and mitochondrial energy coupling was assessed as the ratio. Muscle TCA cycle flux increased by approximately 70% following T3 treatment. In contrast, the rate of ATP synthesis remained unchanged. Given the disproportionate increase in TCA cycle flux compared with ATP synthesis, these data suggest that T3 promotes increased thermogenesis in part by promoting mitochondrial energy uncoupling in skeletal muscle.
Authors
Vincent Lebon, Sylvie Dufour, Kitt Falk Petersen, Jianming Ren, Beat M. Jucker, Lori A. Slezak, Gary W. Cline, Douglas L. Rothman, Gerald I. Shulman
Guidelines
The Editorial Board will only consider comments that are deemed relevant and of interest to readers. The Journal will not post data that have not been subjected to peer review; or a comment that is essentially a reiteration of another comment.
- Comments appear on the Journal’s website and are linked from the original article’s web page.
- Authors are notified by email if their comments are posted.
- The Journal reserves the right to edit comments for length and clarity.
- No appeals will be considered.
- Comments are not indexed in PubMed.
Specific requirements
- Maximum length, 400 words
- Entered as plain text or HTML
- Author’s name and email address, to be posted with the comment
- Declaration of all potential conflicts of interest (even if these are not ultimately posted); see the Journal’s conflict-of-interest policy
- Comments may not include figures
Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)