Hypothalamic neuroinflammation induced by obesity and the effect of Liraglutide

Abstract

Recently, significant attention has been given to the effects of obesity-inducing neuroinflammation on the hypothalamus, particularly the activation of glial cells and neurodegenerative sequences. Understanding how high-fat diets provoke neuroinflammation is essential to propose preventative or management strategies combined with medication interventions such as liraglutide. Scientific studies related to obesity and high-fat diet (HFD) in adult humans and rodents and published in PubMed, Science Direct, and ClinicaTrials.gov in the past ten years have been reviewed. The focus has been placed on studies (A) investigating HFD and obesity effects on neuroinflammation and glial cell activation. (B) The effect of liraglutide intervention on neuroinflammation induced by obesity in the hypothalamus. A total of 90 articles fit the inclusion criteria and were included. Findings revealed that induced obesity by HFD is associated with neuroinflammation in the hypothalamus, specifically microglial activation and oxidative stress, and the cellular and molecular mechanisms for this injurious effect are discussed in the review. On the other hand, liraglutide shows promising neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptosis activities that help manage neurodegenerative diseases. Obesity influences multiple aspects of neuroinflammation in the hypothalamus, including increasing blood-brain barrier permeability, inducing oxidative stress in ER, activating glial cells, and insulin and leptin resistance. It also highlights the consequences of HFD, not only in inducing obesity but also in altering neural integrity. Finally, liraglutide is neuroprotective and limits the initiation of neuroinflammation; therefore, it could be an encouraging therapy for the management of neurodegenerative diseases.