Nature Communications (Apr 2019)

Hepatic arginase 2 (Arg2) is sufficient to convey the therapeutic metabolic effects of fasting

  • Yiming Zhang,
  • Cassandra B. Higgins,
  • Hannah M. Fortune,
  • Phillip Chen,
  • Alicyn I. Stothard,
  • Allyson L. Mayer,
  • Benjamin M. Swarts,
  • Brian J. DeBosch

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09642-8
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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Fasting is known for its beneficial effects on obesity and diabetes-related health complications. Here Zhang et al. show that fasting induces expression of arginase-2 (Arg2) in the liver, and that hepatic Arg2, by suppressing the expression of the regulator of G-protein signalling 16, recapitulates the positive effects of fasting in obesity and diabetes.