ArticleThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2018
Physiology of Activins/Follistatins: Associations With Metabolic and Anthropometric Variables and Response to Exercise.
Article in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Synergistic Effects of Protein Intake and Exercise on Biomarkers of Sarcopenia: A Systematic Review.Biomolecules · 2026Pooled it
- Trial
- Effectiveness of low-load resistance training with blood flow restriction vs. conventional high-intensity resistance training in older people diagnosed with sarcopenia: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Effects of Oral Contraception and Lifestyle Modification on Incretins and TGF-ß Superfamily Hormones in PCOS.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2021Trial
- Short-term treatment with high dose liraglutide improves lipid and lipoprotein profile and changes hormonal mediators of lipid metabolism in obese patients with no overt type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over, double-blind clinical trial.Cardiovascular diabetology · 2019Trial
- Follistatins in glucose regulation in healthy and obese individuals.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2019Trial
- Alterations in systemic and skeletal muscle myostatin regulation are most prominent at disease onset and associate with muscle-related outcomes in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies.Arthritis research & therapy · 2026Article
- Impact of acute anorexia nervosa and of short-/long-term recovery after refeeding on the hormonal profiles of activin A, GDF-15 and follistatins.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- The interplay between exosomal miRNAs and cytokine networks in metabolic diseases.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Expression and distribution of activin-follistatin-inhibin axis in the urinary bladder.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2025Article
- Molecular insights of exercise therapy in disease prevention and treatment.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- Effects of weight loss rate on myostatin and follistatin dynamics in patients with obesity.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Circulating Growth Differentiation Factors 11 and 8, Their Antagonists Follistatin and Follistatin-Like-3, and Risk of Heart Failure in Elders.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2024Article
- The Role of Organokines in Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes and Their Functions as Molecular Transducers of Nutrition and Exercise.Metabolites · 2023Review
- NAFLD, MAFLD, and beyond: one or several acronyms for better comprehension and patient care.Internal and emergency medicine · 2023Review
- FSTL3 is highly expressed in adipose tissue of individuals with overweight or obesity and is associated with inflammation.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2023Article
- Physical activity in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: two intervention proposals based on literature review.Clinical rheumatology · 2022Review
- Follistatin-Like Proteins: Structure, Functions and Biomedical Importance.Biomedicines · 2021Review
- Adipokines, Myokines, and Hepatokines: Crosstalk and Metabolic Repercussions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Context: Clinical trials are evaluating the efficacy of inhibitors of the myostatin pathway in neuromuscular and metabolic diseases. Activins and follistatins are major regulators of the myostatin pathway, but their physiology in relation to metabolic and anthropometric variables and in response to exercise remains to be fully elucidated in humans. Objective: We investigated whether concentrations of circulating activin A, activin B, follistatin, and follistatin-like 3 (FSTL3) are associated with anthropometric and metabolic variables and whether they are affected by exercise. Design: Activin A, activin B, follistatin, and FSTL3 were measured in (1) 80 subjects divided according to age (young vs old) and fitness status (active vs sedentary) before and after exercise at 70% maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), followed by 90% of VO2max until exhaustion; and (2) 23 subjects [9 healthy and 14 with metabolic syndrome (MetS)] who completed four sessions: no exercise, high-intensity interval exercise, continuous moderate-intensity exercise, and resistance exercise for up to 45 minutes. Results: At baseline, follistatin and FSTL3 concentrations were positively associated with age, fat percentage, and body mass index (P < 0.001). Follistatin was positively associated with serum cholesterol (P = 0.005), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.01), triglycerides (P = 0.033), and blood pressure (P = 0.019), whereas activin A and activin B were higher in physically active participants (P = 0.056 and 0.029, respectively). All exercise types increased the levels of all hormones ∼10% to 21% (P = 0.034 for activin B, P < 0.001 for the others) independent of the presence of MetS. Conclusion: Concentrations of circulating activins and follistatins are associated with metabolic parameters and increase after 45 minutes of exercise.
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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.