Abstract
Beta-aminoisobutyric acid (BAIBA), a natural thymine catabolite, is involved in the beneficial effects of exercise on metabolic disorders. In particular, it has been reported to reverse the inflammatory processes observed in the peripheral organs of animal models of obesity. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether BAIBA improves hypothalamic inflammation, which is also tightly coupled with the development of obesity. We observed that treatment with BAIBA effectively reversed palmitic acid-induced hypothalamic inflammation and microglial activation in vivo. Consistent with these findings, we confirmed that BAIBA reversed body weight gain and increased adiposity observed in mice fed with a high-fat diet. Collectively, the current findings evidence the beneficial impacts of BAIBA on the imbalance of energy metabolism linked to hypothalamic inflammation.
Highlights
The hypothalamic neuronal circuit dynamically participates in the regulation of the energy metabolism of the whole body [1,2]
To confirm whether BAIBA has beneficial effects against the hypothalamic inflammation and the metabolic disturbance observed during conditions of chronic over-nutrition, we treated obese mice that were fed a fat-rich diet for 20 weeks with BAIBA for 8 weeks
Since hypothalamic inflammation is directly associated with the pathogenesis of obesity [16], we further ascertained whether BAIBA has an impact on the hypothalamic inflammation by evaluating the hypothalamic expression of genes that are involved in the inflammatory responses
Summary
The hypothalamic neuronal circuit dynamically participates in the regulation of the energy metabolism of the whole body [1,2]. It has been well established that hypothalamic inflammation is a major clue accounting for the development of multiple metabolic disorders [3,4]. The hypothalamic inflammation coupled to metabolic enrichment leads to gliosis, which results in the proliferation and morphological changes of glial cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes [4,5]. Microglia, which are the resident immune cells in the central nervous system (CNS), are one of the crucial cellular contributors that drive physiological or pathological processes associated with whole-body energy metabolism [6,7]. It is noteworthy to identify strategies to overcome metabolic diseases by alleviating the hypothalamic inflammation associated with the microglia
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