Department of Neurophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, Oita University, Oita 870-5593, Japan.
Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Apr 19;22(8):4238. doi: 10.3390/ijms22084238.
Obesity is now a public health concern. The leading cause of obesity is an energy imbalance between ingested and expended calories. The mechanisms of feeding behavior and energy metabolism are regulated by a complex of various kinds of molecules, including anorexigenic and orexigenic neuropeptides. One of these neuropeptides, neuromedin U (NMU), was isolated in the 1980s, and its specific receptors, NMUR1 and NMUR2, were defined in 2000. A series of subsequent studies has revealed many of the physiological roles of the NMU system, including in feeding behavior, energy expenditure, stress responses, circadian rhythmicity, and inflammation. Particularly over the past decades, many reports have indicated that the NMU system plays an essential and direct role in regulating body weight, feeding behavior, energy metabolism, and insulin secretion, which are tightly linked to obesity pathophysiology. Furthermore, another ligand of NMU receptors, NMS (neuromedin S), was identified in 2005. NMS has physiological functions similar to those of NMU. This review summarizes recent observations of the NMU system in relation to the pathophysiology of obesity in both the central nervous systems and the peripheral tissues.
肥胖症现在是一个公共卫生关注点。肥胖的主要原因是摄入和消耗的卡路里之间的能量失衡。摄食行为和能量代谢的机制受到包括厌食性和食欲性神经肽在内的各种分子的复杂调节。这些神经肽之一，神经调节素 U（NMU）于 20 世纪 80 年代被分离出来，其特定的受体 NMUR1 和 NMUR2 于 2000 年被定义。随后的一系列研究揭示了 NMU 系统的许多生理作用，包括摄食行为、能量消耗、应激反应、昼夜节律和炎症。特别是在过去几十年中，许多报告表明，NMU 系统在调节体重、摄食行为、能量代谢和胰岛素分泌方面发挥着重要而直接的作用，这些都与肥胖的病理生理学密切相关。此外，NMU 受体的另一种配体，NMS（神经调节素 S）于 2005 年被鉴定出来。NMS 具有与 NMU 相似的生理功能。本综述总结了 NMU 系统在中枢神经系统和外周组织中与肥胖病理生理学相关的最新观察结果。
