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Obesity

Sex differences in insulin resistance

Nature Reviews Endocrinology volume 14, page 65 (2018)Cite this article

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Before menopause, women have a lower incidence of insulin resistance than men of a similar age. However, this protective effect disappears after menopause, with the incidence of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus becoming similar in men and women, which suggests that oestrogen could have a protective effect. Now, new research indicates that 17β-oestradiol protects pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons from developing insulin resistance.

Previous work has shown that insulin excites POMC neurons in the hypothalamus by activating canonical transient receptor potential (TRPC) cation channels. “We hypothesized that females would be protected against central insulin resistance through preserving this vital signalling pathway in neurons, specifically the hypothalamic POMC neurons,” explains corresponding author Martin Kelly.

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References

  1. Qiu, J. et al. Estradiol protects proopiomelanocortin neurons against insulin resistance. Endocrinology http://dx.doi.org/10.1210/en.2017-00793 (2017)

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  1. Claire Greenhill
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Morselli, E. et al. The effects of oestrogens and their receptors on cardiometabolic health. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 13, 352–364 (2017)

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Greenhill, C. Sex differences in insulin resistance. Nat Rev Endocrinol 14, 65 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2017.168

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