Lipocalin 2 as a Link Between Metabolic Syndrome and Neuroinflammation

Obesity and its immediate consequences, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabetes, are associated with greater neuroinflammation and risk of dementia. Excess visceral fat tissue does its part to produce chronic inflammation throughout the body, but here researchers focus on a specific metabolic dysregulation in the liver that produces inflammation in the brain. That inflammation in turn drives a faster progression towards neurodegenerative conditions. The lesson here, as in so much of this research: don't get fat, don't stay fat. You won't like the consequences. Researchers have revealed the cause behind the previously established link between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (i.e., NAFLD, recently reclassified as metabolic associated fatty liver disease or MAFLD) and neurological problems. The link they discovered, the unique role of an adipokine (Lipocalin-2) in causing neuroinflammation, may explain the prevalence of neurological Alzheimer's disease-like and Parkinson's disease-like phenotypes among individuals with MAFLD. "Lipocalin 2 is one of the important mediators exclusively produced in the liver and circulated throughout the body among those who have nonalcoholic steatohepatitis - or NASH - which is a more advanced form of MAFLD. The research is immensely significant because MAFLD patients have been shown to develop Alzheimer's and Parkinson's-like symptoms as older adults. Scientists can use these results to advance our knowled...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs