New paradigms in neuroendocrinology: relationships between obesity, systemic inflammation and the neuroendocrine system

Obesity may be an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease and contribute to a chronic state of systemic inflammation leading to atherosclerosis and metabolic abnormalities, such as diabetes, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and hypertension. Visceral fat, in fact, may act as an endocrine organ, synthesizing and releasing atherogenic inflammatory cytokines, whose circulating levels depend on the individual’s nutritional state, and the extent and anatomical location of fat stores. Unsuspected viral infections might also be involved in enhancing autocrine/ paracrine mechanisms of cytokine release from omental fat. Elevated levels of blood cytokines may interact with the neuroendocrine system, autonomic nerves and peripheral lymphatic organs. This may lead to local inflammatory reactions in many body compartments, in particular in the heart tissue, possibly affecting the process of circulatory recovery in obese subjects, and predisposing these patients to a greater risk of myocardial inflammatory disease than individuals with normal body mass index. Circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines might be considered to determine risk categories for development of cardiovascular complications in obese subjects. In addition, their reduction with pharmacological antagonists might prevent and/or control acute cardiovascular events and increase energy expenditure in obese patients, especially after surgical treatment, through reduction of cytokine inhibition of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.