小柯机器人

近日，美国斯克利普斯研究所Li Ye、Ardem Patapoutian等研究人员合作发现脂肪组织体感神经支配的作用。相关论文于2022年8月31日在线发表在《自然》杂志上。

研究人员开发了病毒、基因和成像策略，以器官特异性的方式操纵小鼠的感觉神经。这使研究人员能够看到背根神经节从体部到皮下脂肪细胞的整个轴突投影，建立脂肪感觉神经支配的解剖学基础。在功能上，脂肪组织的选择性感觉缺失增强了生脂和生热的转录程序，导致脂肪垫增大，米色脂肪细胞富集，以及在无热条件下体温升高。感觉障碍引起的表型需要完整的交感神经功能。研究人员推测，支配米色脂肪的感觉神经元通过作为交感系统的制动器来调节脂肪细胞的功能。这些结果揭示了脂肪组织背根神经节神经支配的重要作用，并可使未来的研究能够检查不同内感受系统的感觉神经支配。

据了解，脂肪组织与中枢神经系统沟通，以维持全身的能量平衡。主流观点认为，脂肪分泌的循环激素将代谢状态传递给大脑，大脑整合周边信息并通过去甲肾上腺素交感神经输出来调节脂肪细胞的功能。此外，背根神经节的体感神经元也支配着脂肪组织。然而，由于缺乏选择性地针对这些神经元的遗传工具，对其生理重要性的理解受到限制。

附：英文原文

Title: The role of somatosensory innervation of adipose tissues

Author: Wang, Yu, Leung, Verina H., Zhang, Yunxiao, Nudell, Victoria S., Loud, Meaghan, Servin-Vences, M. Rocio, Yang, Dong, Wang, Kristina, Moya-Garzon, Maria Dolores, Li, Veronica L., Long, Jonathan Z., Patapoutian, Ardem, Ye, Li

Issue&Volume: 2022-08-31

Abstract: Adipose tissues communicate with the central nervous system to maintain whole-body energy homeostasis. The mainstream view is that circulating hormones secreted by the fat convey the metabolic state to the brain, which integrates peripheral information and regulates adipocyte function through noradrenergic sympathetic output1. Moreover, somatosensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglia innervate adipose tissue2. However, the lack of genetic tools to selectively target these neurons has limited understanding of their physiological importance. Here we developed viral, genetic and imaging strategies to manipulate sensory nerves in an organ-specific manner in mice. This enabled us to visualize the entire axonal projection of dorsal root ganglia from the soma to subcutaneous adipocytes, establishing the anatomical underpinnings of adipose sensory innervation. Functionally, selective sensory ablation in adipose tissue enhanced the lipogenic and thermogenetic transcriptional programs, resulting in an enlarged fat pad, enrichment of beige adipocytes and elevated body temperature under thermoneutral conditions. The sensory-ablation-induced phenotypes required intact sympathetic function. We postulate that beige-fat-innervating sensory neurons modulate adipocyte function by acting as a brake on the sympathetic system. These results reveal an important role of the innervation by dorsal root ganglia of adipose tissues, and could enable future studies to examine the role of sensory innervation of disparate interoceptive systems.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05137-7

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05137-7

Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html