Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42399647›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2026

Experimental sepsis causes SERCA2 expression in white adipose tissue but not classical browning.

Robert Tidswell, Ali Alqallaf, Joseph Harris, Jonathan Falconer, Pelin A Golforoush, Nishkantha Arulkumaran, Anna Kleyman, David Brealey, Matthew S Rodeheffer, Ketan Patel and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Robert Tidswell *Division of Medicine, Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London, London, UK. r.tidswell@ucl.ac.uk.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2011-2005
Ali Alqallaf *School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Hopkins Building, Reading, UK.
Joseph HarrisDivision of Medicine, Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
Jonathan FalconerDivision of Medicine, Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
Pelin A GolforoushThe Hatter Cardiovascular Institute, University College London, London, UK.
Nishkantha ArulkumaranDivision of Medicine, Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
Anna KleymanDivision of Medicine, Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
David BrealeyDivision of Medicine, Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
Matthew S RodehefferDepartments of Comparative Medicine, Cellular and Molecular Physiology and the Yale Centre of Molecular and Systems Metabolism, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
Ketan PatelSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Hopkins Building, Reading, UK.
Michael R DuchenDepartment of Cell and Developmental Biology, UCL Consortium for Mitochondrial Research, University College London, London, UK.
Mervyn SingerDivision of Medicine, Bloomsbury Institute of Intensive Care Medicine, University College London, London, UK.

Funding

Medical Research Council Clinical Research Training Fellowship, Grant number 554711
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sepsis causes muscle wasting and cachexia but mechanisms remain unclear. Cachexia in cancer and burn injury is partly attributed to 'browning'; where white adipose tissue (WAT) develops a catabolic, thermogenic brown adipose tissue-like phenotype. We hypothesised that sepsis-induced muscle wasting is caused by browning. 58 male Wistar rats were randomised to sham (n = 17) or experimental sepsis induced by intraperitoneal zymosan (n = 41). Tibialis anterior mass was measured on Days 3 and 14. Browning was sought using whole body and WAT respirometry, RNA-sequencing, immunoblot, thermal imaging and multi-photon microscopy of WAT. Fourteen-day mortality in rats receiving zymosan was 17%. In survivors, body mass loss peaked at day 3 and persisted to day 14 with associated tibialis anterior muscle mass loss. Zymosan peritonitis caused hypermetabolism during the late recovery phase (Days 11-14), but no difference in epididymal white adipose tissue temperature nor oxygen flux. At Day 14 transcriptomics showed inflammation but no increase in uncoupling protein (UCP)-1 at transcript or protein levels. SERCA2 protein was however increased fourfold in retroperitoneal WAT at day 14 (p = 0.016). Rats recovering from zymosan peritonitis developed muscle wasting and cachexia associated with WAT inflammation and whole-body hypermetabolism. No evidence of browning was seen at functional, transcriptomic or protein levels, therefore our data do not support the hypothesis of classical browning as a driver of sepsis-induced muscle wasting and cachexia. SERCA2 protein expression was however increased in retroperitoneal WAT at day 14.

Indexed as

Adipose tissueBrowningCachexiaCritical illness myopathySepsisThermogenesis

Identifiers

PMID42399647
PMCPMC13634910

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.