The impact of lipopolysaccharide on cerebrovascular function and cognition resulting from obesity-induced gut dysbiosis

Abstract

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic coinciding with a concomitant increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, particularly dementia. Obesity is characterised by increased adiposity, chronic low-grade systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress, which promote endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial dysfunction reduces cerebrovascular function leading to reduced cerebral blood flow and, eventually, cognitive decline, thus predisposing to a neurodegenerative disease. Obesity is also characterised by gut dysbiosis and a subsequent increase in the lipopolysaccharide which increasingly activates toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and further promotes chronic low-grade systemic inflammation. This also disrupts the crosstalk within the gut-brain axis, thus influencing the functions of the central nervous system, including cognition. However, the mechanisms by which obesity-related increases in oxidative stress, inflammation and endothelial dysfunction are driven by, or associated with, increased systemic lipopolysaccharide leading to reduced cerebrovascular function and cognition, beyond normal ageing, have not been elucidated. Hence, this review examines how increased concentrations of lipopolysaccharide and the subsequent increased TLR4 activation observed in obesity exacerbate the development of obesity-induced reductions in cerebrovascular function and cognition.