FUNCTION AND REGULATION OF THE BETA(3)-ADRENOCEPTOR

The cloning, sequencing and expression in model systems of the previou sly unidentified beta(3)-adrenoceptor recently led to an extensive fun ctional characterization. Ligand binding and adenylate cyclase activat ion studies helped define a specific profile that is quite distinct fr om that of the beta(1)- and beta(2)-adrenoceptors, but strongly remini scent of most of the 'atypical' beta-adrenoceptor-mediated responses r eported in earlier pharmacological studies. More recently, a naturally occurring variation in the human beta(3)-adrenoceptor has been correl ated with hereditary obesity and with increased dynamic capacity to ad d on weight and develop non-insulin dependent diabetes in Western obes e patients. Donny Strosberg and France Pietri-Rouxel describe how resu lts now provide a consistent picture of an important role for the huma n beta(3)-adrenoceptor in the regulation of lipid metabolism and as an obvious target for drugs to treat some forms of obesity and diabetes.