Meliț Lorena Elena, Mărginean Cristina Oana, Mărginean Cristian Dan, Săsăran Maria Oana
Department of Pediatrics I, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș, Gheorghe Marinescu Street No 38, 540136 Târgu Mureș, Romania.
Department of Pediatrics III, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș, Gheorghe Marinescu Street No 38, 540136 Târgu Mureș, Romania.
Biology (Basel). 2021 Jun 9;10(6):512. doi: 10.3390/biology10060512.
Pediatric obesity is not only an energetic imbalance, but also a chronic complex multisystem disorder that might impair both the life length and quality. Its pandemic status should increase worldwide awareness regarding the long-term life-threatening associated complications. Obesity related complications, such as cardiovascular, metabolic, or hepatic ones, affect both short and long-term wellbeing, and they do not spare pediatric subjects, defined as life-threatening consequences of the systemic inflammatory status triggered by the adipose tissue. The energetic imbalance of obesity clearly results in adipocytes hypertrophy and hyperplasia expressing different degrees of chronic inflammation. Adipose tissue might be considered an immune organ due to its rich content in a complex array of immune cells, among which the formerly mentioned macrophages, neutrophils, mast cells, but also eosinophils along with T and B cells, acting together to maintain the tissue homeostasis in normal weight individuals. Adipokines belong to the class of innate immunity humoral effectors, and they play a crucial role in amplifying the immune responses with a subsequent trigger effect on leukocyte activation. The usefulness of complete cellular blood count parameters, such as leukocytes, lymphocytes, neutrophils, erythrocytes, and platelets as predictors of obesity-triggered inflammation, was also proved in pediatric patients with overweight or obesity. The dogma that adipose tissue is a simple energy storage tissue is no longer accepted since it has been proved that it also has an incontestable multifunctional role acting like a true standalone organ resembling to endocrine or immune organs.
儿童肥胖不仅是一种能量失衡，也是一种慢性复杂的多系统疾病，可能会损害寿命和生活质量。其流行状况应提高全球对长期危及生命的相关并发症的认识。肥胖相关并发症，如心血管、代谢或肝脏并发症，会影响短期和长期健康，儿童也不能幸免，这些并发症是由脂肪组织引发的全身炎症状态的危及生命的后果。肥胖的能量失衡显然会导致脂肪细胞肥大和增生，并表现出不同程度的慢性炎症。脂肪组织因其富含一系列复杂的免疫细胞，可能被视为一个免疫器官，其中包括前面提到的巨噬细胞、中性粒细胞、肥大细胞，还有嗜酸性粒细胞以及T细胞和B细胞，它们共同作用以维持正常体重个体的组织稳态。脂肪因子属于先天免疫体液效应器类别，它们在放大免疫反应以及随后触发白细胞激活方面发挥着关键作用。全血细胞计数参数，如白细胞、淋巴细胞、中性粒细胞、红细胞和血小板作为肥胖引发炎症的预测指标的有用性，在超重或肥胖的儿科患者中也得到了证实。脂肪组织只是一个简单能量储存组织的教条已不再被接受，因为事实证明它还具有无可争议的多功能作用，就像一个类似于内分泌或免疫器官的真正独立器官。
