J Clin Invest. 2019 Apr 29;129(6):2181-2183. doi: 10.1172/JCI128984.
White adipose tissue (WAT) dysfunction is generally thought to promote the development of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) in alcoholics by releasing free fatty acids and inflammatory mediators. This explains, at least in part, the synergistic or additive effects of alcohol and obesity on liver disease progression. In this issue of the JCI, Shen et al. establish a previously unrecognized concept that brain alcohol sensing enhances thermogenesis of brown adipose tissue (BAT) through sympathetic nerve activation. BAT functions as hepatoprotective machinery to counteract the development of ALD, implying a therapeutic potential of BAT activity modulation for the treatment of ALD.
白色脂肪组织(WAT)功能障碍通常被认为通过释放游离脂肪酸和炎症介质促进酗酒者发生酒精性肝病(ALD)。这至少部分解释了酒精和肥胖对肝病进展的协同或附加作用。在本期 JCI 中,沈等人提出了一个以前未被认识到的概念,即大脑酒精感应通过交感神经激活增强棕色脂肪组织(BAT)的产热作用。BAT 作为一种肝保护机制,可抵抗 ALD 的发生,这意味着调节 BAT 活性具有治疗 ALD 的潜力。