AMPK as a New Attractive Therapeutic Target for Disease Prevention: The Role of Dietary Compounds AMPK and Disease Prevention

Author(s): Massimiliano Gasparrini, Francesca Giampieri, Josè M. Alvarez Suarez, Luca Mazzoni, Tamara Y. Forbes Hernandez, Josè L. Quiles, Pedro Bullon and Maurizio Battino

Volume 17, Issue 8, 2016

Page: [865 - 889] Pages: 25

DOI: 10.2174/1573399811666150615150235

Price: $65

Abstract

AMPK is a serine/threonine protein kinase that has the function of maintaining the balance between ATP production and consumption in most eukaryotic cells. It plays a relevant role in regulating cellular metabolism, preserving cellular energy homeostasis, and is involved in many other cellular processes as well as metabolic ones, including cell cycle regulation and endothelial and vascular relaxation. Recently, the effects of naturally occurring compounds able to prevent and treat diseases through AMPK activation have attracted the attention of many researchers. Among such compounds, flavonoids found in natural sources, like quercetin, genistein, epigallocatechins, resveratrol, have been proposed as AMPK activators. This review summarizes and updates the most recent findings concerning the mechanisms through which different dietary compounds, from plant foods, affect the AMPK pathway in healthy and pathological in vitro and in vivo models, paying particular attention to molecular mechanisms involved in diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Keywords: AMP-activated protein kinase, Coenzyme Q, dietary polyphenols, disease prevention, energy balance, mitochondrial biogenesis.

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