The Role of Hypothalamic Inflammation in Diet-Induced Obesity and Its Association with Cognitive and Mood Disorders.

Sofia Dionysopoulou,Evangelia Charmandari,Georgios Valsamakis,Alexandra Bargiota,Nikolaos F Vlahos,George Mastorakos

doi:10.3390/nu13020498

Abstract

Obesity is often associated with cognitive and mood disorders. Recent evidence suggests that obesity may cause hypothalamic inflammation. Our aim was to investigate the hypothesis that there is a causal link between obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation and cognitive and mood disorders. Inflammation may influence hypothalamic inter-connections with regions important for cognition and mood, while it may cause dysregulation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis and influence monoaminergic systems. Exercise, healthy diet, and glucagon-like peptide receptor agonists, which can reduce hypothalamic inflammation in obese models, could improve the deleterious effects on cognition and mood.

Highlights

IntroductionThe excess fat in obese individuals is stored mainly in subcutaneous adipose tissue, and in visceral adipose tissue [3,4] and non-adipose tissue organs, such as liver, pancreas, skeletal muscles, and vessels [5,6,7]
It is well established that this kind of diet can lead to increased body weight and obesity, and that it is associated with metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and dyslipidemia
We focus on hypothalamic inflammation, as most of the available data concerning obesity-induced neuroinflammation refer to the impact of obesity in this specific area

Summary

Introduction

The excess fat in obese individuals is stored mainly in subcutaneous adipose tissue, and in visceral adipose tissue [3,4] and non-adipose tissue organs, such as liver, pancreas, skeletal muscles, and vessels [5,6,7]. Obesity is characterized by low-grade chronic inflammation in adipose tissue [8] and is associated with inflammation in other tissues. The increase of immune cell infiltration and proinflammatory activation in intramuscular and perimuscular adipose tissue in obese subjects reflect the inflammation of skeletal muscles [9]. Pancreatic islet cell inflammation has been described in obese and T2DM individuals in rodent and human studies [10]. Obesity promotes liver inflammation by enhancing secretion of interleukin (IL) 6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) [11]

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