Toward a More Complete (and Less Controversial) Understanding of Energy Expenditure and Its Role in Obesity Pathogenesis

摘要

The global obesity epidemic has stimulated intense interest in the study of homeostatic mechanisms governing the balance between energy intake and energy expenditure over time, and recent progress in gene targeting and related technologies has pushed mouse models to the forefront of this effort. Although current methods for the measurement of energy expenditure (ee) in mice are sensitive, reproducible, and widely available, their potential to inform the study of obesity remains limited by controversy regarding how best to control for the powerful, independent impact on ee of variation in body size per se (1,2). In this article, we briefly review the recent work that has fueled this controversy and propose an approach to its resolution. We also highlight aspects of ee measurement relevant to obesity pathogenesis that merit additional study. Although we focus on studies in mice, the principles presented can be applied to most other animal models.