Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, Division of Digestive Diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Curr Pharm Des. 2011;17(16):1576-82. doi: 10.2174/138161211796196981.
Until recently, fat was considered a relatively inactive tissue serving only as a depot for the storage of excess lipid around the body. Over the last decade, however, several studies have established fat as a metabolically active endocrine organ able to affect human pathophysiology at multiple levels. During this time adipose tissue has been shown to produce a number of hormones and inflammatory mediators collectively termed as adipokines. These molecules have been shown to be involved in the etiology of a number of inflammation-associated pathological conditions ranging from atherosclerosis and hypertension to diabetes and cancer. Despite the close physical association of abdominal fat and the intestine in the visceral cavity and the significant paracrine functions now attributed to adipose tissue, very little is known on the potential interactions between these tissues as they may relate to intestinal homeostasis. Considering the dramatic alterations in mesenteric fat depot size and placement during at least one intestinal disease, Crohn's disease, the potential involvement of fat tissue in the development as well as the progression of this and other pathological conditions should be considered. In this review we discuss the latest knowledge on neuropeptide-adipose tissue communication and the potential changes such interaction may induce in intra-abdominal fat tissue physiology. Finally we will discuss evidence on the potential pathways by which such changes in fat physiology may affect the development and progress of intestinal pathological conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease.
直到最近，脂肪一直被认为是一种相对不活跃的组织，仅作为身体周围多余脂质的储存库。然而，在过去的十年中，多项研究已经确定脂肪是一种代谢活跃的内分泌器官，能够在多个层面上影响人体的病理生理学。在此期间，脂肪组织已被证明能够产生许多被称为脂肪因子的激素和炎症介质。这些分子已被证明参与了许多与炎症相关的病理状况的病因，从动脉粥样硬化和高血压到糖尿病和癌症。尽管腹部脂肪与内脏腔中的肠道在物理上密切相关，并且脂肪组织现在被认为具有重要的旁分泌功能，但对于这些组织之间可能存在的与肠道内稳态相关的潜在相互作用知之甚少。考虑到至少一种肠道疾病，即克罗恩病，肠系膜脂肪库大小和位置的剧烈改变，脂肪组织在这种疾病以及其他病理状况的发展和进展中的潜在参与应该被考虑。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了神经肽-脂肪组织通讯的最新知识，以及这种相互作用可能在腹内脂肪组织生理学中引起的潜在变化。最后，我们将讨论脂肪生理学变化可能影响炎症性肠病等肠道病理状况发展和进展的潜在途径的证据。
