Function and regulation of the beta(3)-adrenoceptor

The cloning, sequencing and expression in model systems of the previously unidentified beta(3)-adrenoceptor recently led to an extensive functional characterization. Ligand binding and adenylate cyclase activation studies helped define a specific profile that is quite distinct from that of the beta(1)- and beta(2)-adrenoceptors, but strongly reminiscent of most of the 'atypical' beta-adrenoceptor-mediated responses reported in earlier pharmacological studies. More recently, a naturally occurring variation in the human beta(3)-adrenoceptor has been correlated with hereditary obesity and with increased dynamic capacity to add on weight and develop non-insulin dependent diabetes in Western obese patients. Donny Strosberg and France Pietri-Rouxel describe how results now provide a consistent picture of an important role for the human beta(3)-adrenoceptor in the regulation of lipid metabolism and as an obvious target for drugs to treat some forms of obesity and diabetes.