Table 2.

BATokines

BATokine	Metabolic function	Cardiac function
Thriiodothyronine (T3)	Up-regulated in BAT post activation, effects areas such as growth, metabolism, and homeostasis [25,133,134]	Unclear, but thyroid hormones have shown cardioprotective effects in humans [25]
FGF-21	Beneficial effects on lipid and glucose metabolism [135,138], acts on white adipose tissue and the liver [25,135]	Cardioprotective and antihypertrophic effects in animal models of ischemia and hypertrophy [25,139,140]
NRG4	Adipogenesis and cold induced activation of BAT [25,141]	Cardioprotective effects in mice models of myocardial ischemia [25,141]
IL-6	Mediates glucose metabolism and energy expenditure, promotes browning of WAT [25,142,143,144]	Diverse; cardioprotective effects in HF, contributing factor in cardiac remodeling [145]
NGF	Produced by BAT, but down-regulated upon BAT activation by cold or adrenergic stimulation [146–150]	Promotes cell survival and preserves function in ischemic and diabetic hearts [147–149]