Fig. 2: Glia drive neuroinflammation in the obese brain.
From: Hypothalamic neuronal-glial crosstalk in metabolic disease
In the hypothalamus of lean mice (left), glial cells including astrocytes, microglia, nerve-glial antigen 2 (NG2)/oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), pericytes and tanycytes facilitate healthy physiological function by regulating metabolic hormone transport and neuronal function. In contrast, the obese brain is characterised by hypothalamic inflammation, driven by a phenomenon called reactive gliosis. Hypothalamic astrocytes and microglia proliferate and adopt pro-inflammatory phenotypes which can lead to dysfunction of agouti-related peptide (AgRP) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons.
