Pagotto Uberto, Vicennati Valentina, Pasquali Renato
UO di Endocrinologia e Centro di Ricerca Biomedica Applicata (CRBA), Dipartimento di Medicina Interna e Gastroenterologia, Policlinico S. Orsola-Malpighi, Università Alma Mater Studiorum, Bologna.
G Ital Cardiol (Rome). 2008 Apr;9(4 Suppl 1):74S-82S.
The ability of the endocannabinoid system to control appetite, food intake and energy balance has recently received great attention, particularly in the light of the different modes of action underlying these functions. The endocannabinoid system modulates rewarding properties of food by acting at specific mesolimbic areas in the brain. In the hypothalamus, CB1 receptor and endocannabinoids are integrated components of the networks controlling appetite and food intake. Interestingly, the endocannabinoid system has recently been shown to control several metabolic functions by acting on peripheral tissues, such as adipocytes, hepatocytes, the skeletal muscles and the endocrine pancreas. The relevance of the system is further strengthened by the notion that visceral obesity seems to be a condition in which an overactivation of the endocannabinoid system occurs, therefore drugs interfering with this overactivation by blocking CB1 receptor are considered as valuable candidates for the treatment of obesity and related cardiometabolic risk factors.
内源性大麻素系统控制食欲、食物摄入和能量平衡的能力最近受到了极大关注，特别是鉴于这些功能背后的不同作用模式。内源性大麻素系统通过作用于大脑特定的中脑边缘区域来调节食物的奖赏特性。在下丘脑中，CB1受体和内源性大麻素是控制食欲和食物摄入网络的组成部分。有趣的是，最近研究表明内源性大麻素系统通过作用于外周组织（如脂肪细胞、肝细胞、骨骼肌和内分泌胰腺）来控制多种代谢功能。内脏肥胖似乎是一种内源性大麻素系统过度激活的病症，这一观点进一步强化了该系统的相关性，因此，通过阻断CB1受体来干扰这种过度激活的药物被认为是治疗肥胖及相关心脏代谢风险因素的有价值候选药物。
