What is Natural uncoupler is and explain in detail?
The uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation is useful biologically. In hibernating animals and in newborn human infants, the liberation of heat energy is required to maintain body temperature. In Brown adipose tissue, thermogenesis is achieved by this process. Thermogenin, a protein present in the inner mitochondrial membrane of adipocytes, provides an alternate pathway for protons. It is one of the uncoupling proteins (UCP). Thyroxine is also known to act as a physiological uncoupler.Ref: MN Chatterjea Textbook of Medical Biochemistry, 8th edition, page no: 234