Regulation of Systemic Metabolism by Autonomic Nerve-Mediated Inter-Organ Networks

Abstract

Autonomic nerves, including sympathetic nerves and parasympathetic nerves, innervate organs and modulate those function, thereby regulating systemic metabolism. Autonomic nerve bundles contain both afferent and efferent nerve fibers, and both fibers play important roles in regulating systemic metabolism for maintenance of homeostasis at the whole-body level. Furthermore, recently-obtained evidence unraveled the metabolic regulatory systems through autonomic nerve-mediated inter-organ networks. In these systems, afferent innervations of autonomic nerves transmit metabolic information from peripheral organs to the central nervous system (CNS), and the CNS regulates organ functions based on the transmitted metabolic information through efferent innervations of autonomic nerves. In this review, autonomic nerve-mediated inter-organ networks that are involved in systemic metabolism are introduced, especially focusing on the liver-brain-pancreatic β-cell inter-organ network.