Relationships between adipose tissues and brain: what do we learn from animal studies?

Over the last decades, more and more data supporting the importance of the relationships between the brain and adipose tissues (white and brown) in regards of body weight regulation and energy homeostasis have been published. Indeed the brain via the autonomic nervous system participates to the regulation of different parameters such as the metabolic (lipolysis, lipogenesis and thermogeneis), and secretory (leptin and other adipokines) activities but also plasticity (proliferation differentiation and apoptosis) of adipose tissues. In turn the various fat pads will send information via sensory innervation of white adipose tissue as well as metabolic and hormonal signals acting directly on some brain areas. Altogether these results showed the presence of a neural feedback loop between adipose tissues and the brain which plays a major role in the regulation of energy homeostasis and as been shown to vary according to physiological and pathological states. (C) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.