Short-term cold acclimation improves insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

• Published in: Nature medicine Vol. 21; no. 8; pp. 863 - 865
• Main Authors: Hanssen, Mark J W, Hoeks, Joris, Brans, Boudewijn, van der Lans, Anouk A J J, Schaart, Gert, van den Driessche, José J, Jörgensen, Johanna A, Boekschoten, Mark V, Hesselink, Matthijs K C, Havekes, Bas, Kersten, Sander, Mottaghy, Felix M, van Marken Lichtenbelt, Wouter D, Schrauwen, Patrick
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01.08.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 38/61; 631/443; 631/443/319; 692/163; 692/308/575; 82/80; Acclimatization; Adipose tissue; Adipose Tissue, Brown - metabolism; Aged; Biomedicine; Body fat; brief-communication; Cancer Research; Care and treatment; Chair Nutrition Metabolism and Genomics; Cold; Cold Temperature; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - metabolism; Dosage and administration; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; Glucose - metabolism; Glucose Transporter Type 4 - physiology; Health aspects; HNE Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics; HNE Voeding, Metabolisme en Genomics; Humans; Infectious Diseases; Insulin; Insulin Resistance; Male; Medical research; Metabolic Diseases; Middle Aged; Molecular Medicine; Muscles; Neurosciences; Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics; Translocation; Type 2 diabetes; VLAG; Voeding, Metabolisme en Genomica
• ISSN: 1078-8956; 1546-170X; 1546-170X
• DOI: 10.1038/nm.3891

A small clinical trial shows that short-term cold acclimation to moderately-cold temperature improves the glucose homeostasis of individuals with type 2 diabetes, without an appreciable activation of their brown adipose tissue. Cold exposure may be a potential therapy for diabetes by increasing brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass and activity. Here we report that 10 d of cold acclimation (14–15 °C) increased peripheral insulin sensitivity by ∼43% in eight type 2 diabetes subjects. Basal skeletal muscle GLUT4 translocation markedly increased, without effects on insulin signaling or AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation and only a minor increase in BAT glucose uptake.