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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Biol Chem. Aug 26, 2015; 6(3): 223-230
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v6.i3.223
Published online Aug 26, 2015. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v6.i3.223
Essential roles of four-carbon backbone chemicals in the control of metabolism
Sabrina Chriett, Luciano Pirola, INSERM Unit 1060, South Lyon Hospital, Medical Faculty, CarMeN Laboratory, Lyon-1 University, INRA U1397, 69921 Oullins, France
Author contributions: Both authors contributed equally to this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Neither of the authors have conflicts of interest related to this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Luciano Pirola, INSERM Unit 1060, South Lyon Hospital, Medical Faculty, CarMeN Laboratory, Lyon-1 University, INRA U1397, 165 Ch. du Grand Revoyet - BP12, 69921 Oullins, France. luciano.pirola@univ-lyon1.fr
Telephone: +33-4-26235948
Received: January 28, 2015
Peer-review started: February 1, 2015
First decision: March 20, 2015
Revised: May 11, 2015
Accepted: May 16, 2015
Article in press: May 18, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Peer-review started: February 1, 2015
First decision: March 20, 2015
Revised: May 11, 2015
Accepted: May 16, 2015
Article in press: May 18, 2015
Published online: August 26, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Recent research demonstrated that the four-carbon molecule butyrate, and butyrate-related molecules (4-phenylbutyric acid, D-β-hydroxybutyrate and β-aminoisobutyric acid), act as modulators of metabolism, favoring energy expenditure. Conversely, another butyrate-related molecule, α-hydroxybutyrate, is an early predictor of insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. In this minireview, we summarize the recent progress in the understanding of the mechanism of action of these molecules and discuss their possible therapeutic use to improve metabolic homeostasis and their usefulness as early biomarkers for insulin resistance.