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REVIEW article

Front. Endocrinol.

Sec. Obesity

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1554617

Myokines as potential mediators of changes in glucose homeostasis and muscle mass after bariatric surgery

Provisionally accepted
Laura Orioli Laura Orioli 1,2*Jean-Paul Thissen Jean-Paul Thissen 1,2
  • 1 Research laboratory of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research, UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium
  • 2 Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Myokines are bioactive peptides released by skeletal muscle. Myokines exert auto-, para-, or endocrine effects, enabling them to regulate many aspects of metabolism in various tissues, including glucose homeostasis and muscle mass. However, the contribution of myokines to the dramatic changes in glucose homeostasis and muscle mass induced by bariatric surgery has not been established. Our review highlights that myokines such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), meteorin-like protein (Metrnl), secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC), apelin (APLN) and myostatin (MSTN) may mediate changes in glucose homeostasis and muscle mass after bariatric surgery. Our review also identifies myonectin as an interesting candidate for future studies, as this myokine may regulate lipid metabolism and muscle mass after bariatric surgery. These myokines may provide novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers for obesity, type 2 diabetes and sarcopenia.

    Keywords: Glucose homeostasis, Myokines, Myostatin, muscle mass, Obesity, sarcopenic obesity, Sarcopenia, type 2 diabetes

    Received: 02 Jan 2025; Accepted: 28 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Orioli and Thissen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Laura Orioli, Research laboratory of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research, UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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