State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
Department of Anesthesiology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 200127, China.
Life Sci. 2023 Jun 1;322:121669. doi: 10.1016/j.lfs.2023.121669. Epub 2023 Apr 5.
Pain and obesity, as well as their associated impairments, are major health concerns. Understanding the relationship between the two is the focus of a growing body of research. However, early researches attribute increased mechanical stress from excessive weight as the main factor of obesity-related pain, which not only over-simplify the association, but also fail to explain some controversial outcomes arising from clinical investigations. This review focuses on neuroendocrine and neuroimmune modulators importantly involved in both pain and obesity, analyzing nociceptive and anti-nociceptive mechanisms based on neuroendocrine pathways including galanin, ghrelin, leptin and their interactions with other neuropeptides and hormone systems which have been reported to play roles in pain and obesity. Mechanisms of immune activities and metabolic alterations are also discussed, due to their intense interactions with neuroendocrine system and crucial roles in the development and maintenance of inflammatory and neuropathic pain. These findings have implications for health given rising rates of obesity and pain-related diagnoses, by providing novel weight-control and analgesic therapies targeted on specific pathways.
疼痛和肥胖及其相关障碍是主要的健康问题。理解两者之间的关系是越来越多研究的重点。然而，早期的研究将肥胖相关疼痛的主要因素归因于超重引起的机械性压力增加，这不仅简化了这种关联，而且也无法解释一些来自临床研究的有争议的结果。本综述重点关注在疼痛和肥胖中均发挥重要作用的神经内分泌和神经免疫调节剂，通过分析神经内分泌途径中的痛觉和抗痛觉机制，包括甘丙肽、胃饥饿素、瘦素及其与其他神经肽和激素系统的相互作用，这些系统已被报道在疼痛和肥胖中发挥作用。由于免疫活动和代谢改变与神经内分泌系统密切相互作用，并在炎症性和神经性疼痛的发生和维持中发挥关键作用，因此也讨论了这些机制。鉴于肥胖和与疼痛相关的诊断率不断上升，这些发现为提供针对特定途径的新型体重控制和镇痛疗法提供了新的思路，这对健康具有重要意义。
