Instituto Cajal, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), 28002 Madrid, Spain.
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fragilidad y Envejecimiento Saludable (CIBERFES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Apr 3;21(7):2479. doi: 10.3390/ijms21072479.
Autophagy is an essential mechanism to maintain cellular homeostasis. Besides its role in controlling the quality of cytoplasmic components, it participates in nutrient obtaining and lipid mobilization under stressful conditions. Furthermore, autophagy is involved in the regulation of systemic metabolism as its blockade in hypothalamic neurons can affect the central regulation of metabolism and impact body energy balance. Moreover, hypothalamic autophagy can be altered during obesity, one of the main alterations of metabolism nowadays. In this review, we focus on the role of astrocytes, essential cells for brain homeostasis, which represent key metabolic regulators. Astrocytes can sense metabolic signals in the hypothalamus and modulate systemic functions as glucose homeostasis and feeding response. Moreover, the response of astrocytes to obesity has been widely studied. Astrocytes are important mediators of brain inflammation and can be affected by increased levels of saturated fatty acids associated with obesity. Although autophagy plays important roles for astrocyte homeostasis and functioning, the contribution of astrocyte autophagy to systemic metabolism has not been analyzed yet. Furthermore, how obesity can impact astrocyte autophagy is poorly understood. More studies are needed in order to understand the contribution of astrocyte autophagy to metabolism.
自噬是维持细胞内环境稳定的一种必要机制。除了在控制细胞质成分质量方面的作用外，它还参与应激条件下的营养物质获取和脂质动员。此外，自噬参与全身代谢的调节，因为其在下丘脑神经元中的阻断会影响代谢的中枢调节，并影响身体能量平衡。此外，在肥胖症期间，下丘脑自噬可能会发生改变，肥胖症是当今代谢的主要改变之一。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了星形胶质细胞的作用，星形胶质细胞是维持大脑内环境稳定的必需细胞，是关键的代谢调节细胞。星形胶质细胞可以感知下丘脑的代谢信号，并调节全身功能，如葡萄糖稳态和摄食反应。此外，星形胶质细胞对肥胖的反应已经得到了广泛的研究。星形胶质细胞是脑炎症的重要介质，并且可能会受到与肥胖相关的高水平饱和脂肪酸的影响。虽然自噬对星形胶质细胞的内环境稳定和功能具有重要作用，但星形胶质细胞自噬对全身代谢的贡献尚未得到分析。此外，肥胖症如何影响星形胶质细胞自噬还知之甚少。需要更多的研究来了解星形胶质细胞自噬对代谢的贡献。
