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The physical mechanism is mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP). They regulate how much energy is wasted as heat when converting ADP to ATP, determining how e
by throwup238 2y ago
The physical mechanism is mitochondrial uncoupling proteins (UCP). They regulate how much energy is wasted as heat when converting ADP to ATP, determining how efficient one’s metabolism is. When you lose weight, your UCP proteins start wasting less and less energy when producing ATP, which is one of the things that makes dieting so hard.
Actually affecting that pathway is largely beyond us at the moment (that’s the bro science) but the mechanism is relatively well understood.
- krapht 2y agoIs this similar to what 2, 4 dinitrophenol affects?
- throwup238 2y agoYes, sort of. DNP doesn’t affect uncoupling proteins directly but it moves protons across the mitochondrial membrane, causing more of the energy to be lost as heat as the uncoupling proteins waste more energy to restore the proton gradient. There are a bunch of such “protonophores” that move protons across membranes and they are universally toxic if they make it to the mitochondria. I don’t known of any compound that actually mediates the UCPs themselves.