Calcium Signaling Pathways: Key Pathways in the Regulation of Obesity

• Main Authors: Ziguo Song, Yu Wang, Fei Zhang, Fangyao Yao, Chao Sun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: calcium signaling pathways; obesity; biological clock; intestinal microbial activity; nervous system excitability
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/11/2768

Nowadays, high epidemic obesity-triggered hypertension and diabetes seriously damage social public health. There is now a general consensus that the body’s fat content exceeding a certain threshold can lead to obesity. Calcium ion is one of the most abundant ions in the human body. A large number of studies have shown that calcium signaling could play a major role in increasing energy consumption by enhancing the metabolism and the differentiation of adipocytes and reducing food intake through regulating neuronal excitability, thereby effectively decreasing the occurrence of obesity. In this paper, we review multiple calcium signaling pathways, including the IP3 (inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate)-Ca²⁺ (calcium ion) pathway, the p38-MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) pathway, and the calmodulin binding pathway, which are involved in biological clock, intestinal microbial activity, and nerve excitability to regulate food intake, metabolism, and differentiation of adipocytes in mammals, resulting in the improvement of obesity.