Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, The University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2022 Jun 9;13:898139. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.898139. eCollection 2022.
Obesity has become a global epidemic, and it is a major risk factor for other metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes and cardiometabolic disease. Accumulating evidence indicates that there is sex-specific metabolic protection and disease susceptibility. For instance, in both clinical and experimental studies, males are more likely to develop obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes. In line with this, males tend to have more visceral white adipose tissue (WAT) and less brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenic activity, both leading to an increased incidence of metabolic disorders. This female-specific fat distribution is partially mediated by sex hormone estrogens. Specifically, hypothalamic estrogen signaling plays a vital role in regulating WAT distribution, WAT beiging, and BAT thermogenesis. These regulatory effects on adipose tissue metabolism are primarily mediated by the activation of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) in neurons, which interacts with hormones and adipokines such as leptin, ghrelin, and insulin. This review discusses the contribution of adipose tissue dysfunction to obesity and the role of hypothalamic estrogen signaling in preventing metabolic diseases with a particular focus on the VMH, the central regulator of energy expenditure and glucose homeostasis.
肥胖已成为全球性流行病，是 2 型糖尿病和心脏代谢疾病等其他代谢紊乱的主要危险因素。越来越多的证据表明，存在性别特异性的代谢保护和疾病易感性。例如，在临床和实验研究中，男性更容易发生肥胖、胰岛素抵抗和糖尿病。与此一致的是，男性往往具有更多的内脏白色脂肪组织（WAT）和较少的棕色脂肪组织（BAT）产热活性，这两者都会导致代谢紊乱的发生率增加。这种女性特有的脂肪分布部分由性激素雌激素介导。具体而言，下丘脑雌激素信号在调节 WAT 分布、WAT 米色化和 BAT 产热中起着至关重要的作用。这些对脂肪组织代谢的调节作用主要通过神经元中雌激素受体 α（ERα）的激活来介导，它与瘦素、胃饥饿素和胰岛素等激素和脂肪因子相互作用。本综述讨论了脂肪组织功能障碍对肥胖的贡献，以及下丘脑雌激素信号在预防以 VMH 为中心的能量消耗和葡萄糖稳态的代谢疾病中的作用。
