ReviewJournal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology2016
(13)C-Breath testing in animals: theory, applications, and future directions.
Review in Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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.
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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.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Flexible nutrient oxidation during desiccation is associated with climate stress resistance of an invasive fly.The Journal of experimental biology · 2026Article
- Spatial patterns of hepatocyte glucose flux revealed by stable isotope tracing and multi-scale microscopy.Nature communications · 2025Article
- An organism-level quantitative flux model of energy metabolism in mice.Cell metabolism · 2025Article
- The carbon isotope ratio of breath is elevated by short-term and long-term added sugar and animal protein intake in a controlled feeding study.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2024Article
- Water restriction increases oxidation of endogenous amino acids in house sparrows (Passer domesticus).The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Whole-body galactose oxidation as a robust functional assay to assess the efficacy of gene-based therapies in a mouse model of Galactosemia.Molecular therapy. Methods & clinical development · 2024Article
- Using stable isotopes in hummingbird breath to estimate reliance on supplemental feeders.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Using stable isotope (δOecologia · 2022Article
- Biofilm and invertebrate consumption by western sandpipers (Conservation physiology · 2022Article
- Insect flight metabolic rate revealed by bolus injection of the stable isotopeProceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Tracing sources of carbon and hydrogen to stored lipids in migratory passerines using stable isotope (δOecologia · 2021Article
- Temporal patterns of foraging by silver-haired bats during migratory stopover revealed by isotopic analyses (δOecologia · 2020Article
- Extended indirect calorimetry with isotopic COScientific reports · 2019Article
- Shifts in metabolic fuel use coincide with maximal rates of ventilation and body surface rewarming in an arousing hibernator.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2019Article
- Seven unconfirmed ideas to improve future ICU practice.Critical care (London, England) · 2017Review
- Article
- Muscle mass and physical recovery in ICU: innovations for targeting of nutrition and exercise.Current opinion in critical care · 2017Article
- More than just sugar: allocation of nectar amino acids and fatty acids in a Lepidopteran.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2017Article
- Stable isotope biomarker breath tests for human metabolic and infectious diseases: a review of recent patent literature.Expert opinion on therapeutic patents · 2016Review
- Cold adaptation increases rates of nutrient flow and metabolic plasticity during cold exposure in Drosophila melanogaster.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The carbon isotope values in the exhaled breath of an animal mirror the carbon isotope values of the metabolic fuels being oxidized. The measurement of stable carbon isotopes in carbon dioxide is called (13)C-breath testing and offers a minimally invasive method to study substrate oxidation in vivo. (13)C-breath testing has been broadly used to study human exercise, nutrition, and pathologies since the 1970s. Owing to reduced use of radioactive isotopes and the increased convenience and affordability of (13)C-analyzers, the past decade has witnessed a sharp increase in the use of breath testing throughout comparative physiology--especially to answer questions about how and when animals oxidize particular nutrients. Here, we review the practical aspects of (13)C-breath testing and identify the strengths and weaknesses of different methodological approaches including the use of natural abundance versus artificially-enriched (13)C tracers. We critically compare the information that can be obtained using different experimental protocols such as diet-switching versus fuel-switching. We also discuss several factors that should be considered when designing breath testing experiments including extrinsic versus intrinsic (13)C-labelling and different approaches to model nutrient oxidation. We use case studies to highlight the myriad applications of (13)C-breath testing in basic and clinical human studies as well as comparative studies of fuel use, energetics, and carbon turnover in multiple vertebrate and invertebrate groups. Lastly, we call for increased and rigorous use of (13)C-breath testing to explore a variety of new research areas and potentially answer long standing questions related to thermobiology, locomotion, and nutrition.
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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.