Observational studyScientific reports2020
Insights in the regulation of trimetylamine N-oxide production using a comparative biomimetic approach suggest a metabolic switch in hibernating bears.
Observational study in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 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.
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
18 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative physiology and biomimetics in metabolic and environmental health: what can we learn from extreme animal phenotypes?Diabetologia · 2026Review
- Metabolomics-Guided Genomic Comparisons Reveal Convergent Evolution of Hibernation Genes in Mammals.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Harnessing Evolution and Biomimetics to Enhance Planetary Health: Kidney Insights.Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN · 2025Review
- What Can the Gut Microbiota of Animals Teach Us about the Relationship between Nutrition and Burden of Lifestyle Diseases?Nutrients · 2024Review
- The dietary source of trimethylamine N-oxide and clinical outcomes: an unexpected liaison.Clinical kidney journal · 2023Review
- Formerly bile-farmed bears as a model of accelerated ageing.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Elevated plasma phospholipid n-3 docosapentaenoic acid concentrations during hibernation.PloS one · 2023Article
- The cost of research: Lasting effects of capture, surgery and muscle biopsy on brown bear (Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2023Article
- Mapping out the gut microbiota-dependent trimethylamine N-oxide super pathway for systems biology applications.Frontiers in systems biology · 2023Review
- Serum plays an important role in reprogramming the seasonal transcriptional profile of brown bear adipocytes.iScience · 2022Article
- Blood-brain barrier and gut barrier dysfunction in chronic kidney disease with a focus on circulating biomarkers and tight junction proteins.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Hibernating brown bears are protected against atherogenic dyslipidemia.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Role of GDF-15, YKL-40 and MMP 9 in patients with end-stage kidney disease: focus on sex-specific associations with vascular outcomes and all-cause mortality.Biology of sex differences · 2021Article
- Manipulating the exposome to enable better ageing.The Biochemical journal · 2021Article
- Potential natural immunization against atherosclerosis in hibernating bears.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Biomimetics provides lessons from nature for contemporary ways to improve human health.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2021Review
- The Human Microbiome in Chronic Kidney Disease: A Double-Edged Sword.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Review
- The Torpid State: Recent Advances in Metabolic Adaptations and Protective MechanismsFrontiers in physiology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 9 institutions in 6 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Experimental studies suggest involvement of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in the aetiology of cardiometabolic diseases and chronic kidney disease (CKD), in part via metabolism of ingested food. Using a comparative biomimetic approach, we have investigated circulating levels of the gut metabolites betaine, choline, and TMAO in human CKD, across animal species as well as during hibernation in two animal species. Betaine, choline, and TMAO levels were associated with renal function in humans and differed significantly across animal species. Free-ranging brown bears showed a distinct regulation pattern with an increase in betaine (422%) and choline (18%) levels during hibernation, but exhibited undetectable levels of TMAO. Free-ranging brown bears had higher betaine, lower choline, and undetectable TMAO levels compared to captive brown bears. Endogenously produced betaine may protect bears and garden dormice during the vulnerable hibernating period. Carnivorous eating habits are linked to TMAO levels in the animal kingdom. Captivity may alter the microbiota and cause a subsequent increase of TMAO production. Since free-ranging bears seems to turn on a metabolic switch that shunts choline to generate betaine instead of TMAO, characterisation and understanding of such an adaptive switch could hold clues for novel treatment options in burden of lifestyle diseases, such as CKD.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.