ArticleCell2014
Skeletal muscle PGC-1α1 modulates kynurenine metabolism and mediates resilience to stress-induced depression.
Article in Cell, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 405 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
405 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 711 citations in OpenAlex.
- A Single Exercise Session Elicits a Transient Kynurenine Metabolic Signature in Health and Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of exercise interventions on core health outcomes in patients with SLE: systematic review and meta-analysis.Lupus science & medicine · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of walking training on cardiorespiratory fitness in cancer patients.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of different exercise interventions on depression and anxiety in cancer survivors: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of exercise interventions on depression, anxiety, and self-esteem in children and adolescents: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Yoga for fatigue in people with cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Cardiovascular training for fatigue in people with cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Exercise-induced adaptations in the kynurenine pathway: implications for health and disease management.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Pooled it
- Resistance training for fatigue in people with cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Cardiovascular training versus resistance training for fatigue in people with cancer.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of Physical Activity on Depression in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Fitness, physical activity, and exercise in multiple sclerosis: a systematic review on current evidence for interactions with disease activity and progression.Journal of neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Changes in Mood and Tryptophan Metabolism Following a 12-Week Endurance Exercise Combined with Time-Restricted Eating in Healthy Adults.Nutrients · 2026Trial
- Ischemic preconditioning modulates the acute post-exercise inflammatory, angiogenic, and neurotrophic response in endurance runners.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- Metabolomic profiling of intensity-dependent responses to acute exercise in healthy humans.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Trial
- Effects of Heat Exposure on Kynurenine Pathway Metabolism-Comparison Between Exertional and Exogenous Heating of the Human Body.Acta physiologica (Oxford, England) · 2025Trial
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- Trial
- Omega-3 fatty acid supplementation affects tryptophan metabolism during a 12-week endurance training in amateur runners: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Acute administration of ibuprofen increases serum concentration of the neuroprotective kynurenine pathway metabolite, kynurenic acid: a pilot randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover study.Psychopharmacology · 2022Trial
345 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Depression is a debilitating condition with a profound impact on quality of life for millions of people worldwide. Physical exercise is used as a treatment strategy for many patients, but the mechanisms that underlie its beneficial effects remain unknown. Here, we describe a mechanism by which skeletal muscle PGC-1α1 induced by exercise training changes kynurenine metabolism and protects from stress-induced depression. Activation of the PGC-1α1-PPARα/δ pathway increases skeletal muscle expression of kynurenine aminotransferases, thus enhancing the conversion of kynurenine into kynurenic acid, a metabolite unable to cross the blood-brain barrier. Reducing plasma kynurenine protects the brain from stress-induced changes associated with depression and renders skeletal muscle-specific PGC-1α1 transgenic mice resistant to depression induced by chronic mild stress or direct kynurenine administration. This study opens therapeutic avenues for the treatment of depression by targeting the PGC-1α1-PPAR axis in skeletal muscle, without the need to cross the blood-brain barrier.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.