Publications by Davide D'Amico

The polyphenol metabolite urolithin A suppresses myostatin expression and augments glucose uptake in human skeletal muscle cells

Purpose Polyphenolic plant extracts have demonstrated anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic effects in vitro, however their meaningful translation into humans remains elusive. Urolithin A (UA), a gut-derived metabolite of ellagitannins, has shown promise fo ...

BMC2025

Urolithin A provides cardioprotection and mitochondrial quality enhancement preclinically and improves human cardiovascular health biomarkers

Pénélope Andreux, Davide D'Amico

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the primary cause of global mortality. Nutritional interventions hold promise to reduce CVD risks in an increasingly aging population. However, few nutritional interventions are proven to support heart health and act m ...

2025

Urolithin A abolishes high anxiety and rescues the associated mitochondria-related transcriptomic signatures and synaptic function

Maria del Carmen Sandi Perez, Jocelin Grosse, Olivia Zanoletti, Davide D'Amico, Simone Astori, Marie-Isabelle Guillot de Suduiraut, Dogukan Hazar Ülgen

Background: Chronic anxiety is common, disabling, and often refractory to current therapies. Mounting evidence implicates mitochondrial abnormalities in anxiety-related phenotypes. Urolithin A (UA), a gut microbiota-derived metabolite known to enhance mito ...

Elsevier BV2025

Regional differences in progenitor metabolism shape brain growth during development

Davide D'Amico

Mammals have particularly large forebrains compared with other brain parts, yet the developmental mechanisms underlying this regional expansion remain poorly understood. Here, we provide a single-cell-resolution birthdate atlas of the mouse brain (www.neur ...

2025

Mitophagy Activation by Urolithin A to Target Muscle Aging

Davide D'Amico, Anurag Singh

The age-related loss of skeletal muscle function starts from midlife and if left unaddressed can lead to an impaired quality of life. A growing body of evidence indicates that mitochondrial dysfunction is causally involved with muscle aging. Muscles are ti ...

Springer2023

Tetracycline-induced mitohormesis mediates disease tolerance against influenza

Johan Auwerx, Davide D'Amico, Nicola Harris, Elena Katsyuba, Adrienne Joëlle Laurence Mottis, Alexis Rapin, Yang Li, Gaby El Alam

Mitohormesis defines the increase in fitness mediated by adaptive responses to mild mitochondrial stress. Tetracyclines inhibit not only bacterial but also mitochondrial translation, thus imposing a low level of mitochondrial stress on eukaryotic cells. We ...

AMER SOC CLINICAL INVESTIGATION INC2022

Sphingolipids accumulate in aged muscle, and their reduction counteracts sarcopenia

Johan Auwerx, Davide D'Amico, Tanes Imamura de Lima, Qi Wang, Sébastien Robert Victor Herzig, Maroun Bou Sleiman, Martin Rainer Wohlwend, Peiling Luan, Pirkka-Pekka Untamo Laurila, Barbara Moreira Crisol

Age-related muscle dysfunction and sarcopenia are major causes of physical incapacitation in older adults and currently lack viable treatment strategies. Here we find that sphingolipids accumulate in mouse skeletal muscle upon aging and that both genetic a ...

2022

Impact of the Natural Compound Urolithin A on Health, Disease, and Aging

Johan Auwerx, Pénélope Andreux, Davide D'Amico, Pamela Solange Valdés Undurraga, Anurag Singh

Urolithin A (UA) is a natural compound produced by gut bacteria from ingested ellagitannins (ETs) and ellagic acid (EA), complex polyphenols abundant in foods such as pomegranate, berries, and nuts. UA was discovered 40 years ago, but only recently has its ...

2021

Direct supplementation with Urolithin A overcomes limitations of dietary exposure and gut microbiome variability in healthy adults to achieve consistent levels across the population

Johan Auwerx, Patrick Aebischer, Pénélope Andreux, Davide D'Amico

Background Urolithin A (UA) is produced by gut microflora from foods rich in ellagitannins. UA has been shown to improve mitochondrial health preclinically and in humans. Not everyone has a microbiome capable of producing UA, making supplementation with UA ...

2021

Urolithin A improves muscle function by inducing mitophagy in muscular dystrophy

Johan Auwerx, Pénélope Andreux, Davide D'Amico, Hao Li, Tanes Imamura de Lima, Martin Rainer Wohlwend, Peiling Luan, Pirkka-Pekka Untamo Laurila

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common muscular dystrophy, and despite advances in genetic and pharmacological disease-modifying treatments, its management remains a major challenge. Mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to DMD, yet the mecha ...

AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE2021