Visceral Fat Harms Cognitive Function via Inflammatory IL-1 β Signaling

It is well known that excess visceral fat tissue is harmful to health over the long term. A sizable amount of this harm stems from mechanisms that act to generate chronic inflammation. These include an accelerated generation of lingering senescent cells, DNA debris from dead fat cells, signaling from normal fat cells that is similar to that secreted by infected cells, and so forth. Researchers here focus on the link between visceral fat and loss of cognitive function, showing that particular inflammatory signal is influential in causing the central nervous system immune cells known as microglia to change their behavior for the worse, thereby harming the function of neurons in the brain. There is a great deal of other evidence pointing towards the importance of inflammatory and senescent microglia in the development of neurodegenerative conditions; chronic inflammation is a noteworthy component of the aging process, and to the extent it can be minimized, such as by maintaining a low level of visceral fat tissue, individuals tend to have a better prognosis.

Scientists have shown one way in which visceral fat is bad for brains is by enabling easy, excessive access for the proinflammatory protein signal interleukin-1 beta. The brain typically does not see much of this interleukin-1 beta, but researchers have found that visceral adiposity generates high, chronic levels of the signal that in turn over-activate the usually protective microglia, the resident immune cells in ...

Source: Fight Aging! - March 9, 2020 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs