Abstract
Psychiatric disorders have been widely reported to be associated with systemic inflammation upregulation and adiposity. However, there are no data that link adipose tissue inflammation to these mental disorders. The analysis of adipokines and inflammation-related markers in adipose tissue could help to elucidate the potential association between obesity and mental health. An observational study was conducted in samples of patients consisting of non-obese and obese subjects, who were diagnosed with anxiety or mood disorders. Gene expression of adiponectin (ADIPOQ), leptin (LEP) and inflammatory markers (IL6, IL1B, TNF, CCL2, CSF3, ITGAM, and PLAUR) were determined in visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous (SAT) adipose tissues. Our results showed that the gene expression of adipokines and inflammation-related markers was higher in the VAT and SAT of obese subjects compared with non-obese subjects. Regarding mental disorders, all the inflammatory genes in the VAT were significantly higher in non-obese subjects with anxiety or mood disorders than in subjects without mental disorders, except for TNF and ITGAM. Additionally, IL6 expression was significantly lower in SAT. In contrast, obese patients diagnosed with anxiety or mood disorders only showed significantly lower expression levels of IL1B in VAT and ADIPOQ in SAT when compared with obese subjects without mental disorders. These data suggest the potential involvement of VAT inflammation in anxiety and mood disorders, involving complex mechanisms which are strongly affected by obesity.
Highlights
Psychiatric disorders have been widely reported to be associated with systemic inflammation upregulation and adiposity
In order to establish an association between the expression of inflammatory markers within adipose tissue and the presence of mental disorders in obesity, we examined the gene expression of relevant inflammatory markers and adipokines within adipose tissue in obese and non-obese subjects according to the diagnosis of anxiety and mood disorders
Because adipose tissue dysfunction could be involved in the development of psychiatric disorders, previous studies have examined the relationship between adiposity and mental health using markers of inflammation in the blood[4,19,23]
Summary
Psychiatric disorders have been widely reported to be associated with systemic inflammation upregulation and adiposity. Obese patients diagnosed with anxiety or mood disorders only showed significantly lower expression levels of IL1B in VAT and ADIPOQ in SAT when compared with obese subjects without mental disorders. These data suggest the potential involvement of VAT inflammation in anxiety and mood disorders, involving complex mechanisms which are strongly affected by obesity. In addition to inflammatory mediators such as cytokines, adiponectin and leptin are two adipokines that are mainly secreted by adipose tissue and are known to play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of obesity and associated metabolic disorders[18] They have been described to participate in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders such as major depression and anxiety-like disorders[19,20]
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