Abstract

The prevalence of obesity and the associated comorbidities highlight the importance of understanding the regulation of energy homeostasis. The central melanocortin system plays a critical role in controlling body weight balance. Melanocortin neurons sense and integrate the neuronal and hormonal signals, and then send regulatory projections, releasing anorexigenic or orexigenic melanocortin neuropeptides, to downstream neurons to regulate the food intake and energy expenditure. This review summarizes the latest progress in our understanding of the role of the melanocortin pathway in energy homeostasis. We also review the advances in the identification of human genetic variants that cause obesity via mechanisms that affect the central melanocortin system, which have provided rational targets for treatment of genetically susceptible patients.

中文翻译：

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中枢黑皮质素系统与人类肥胖

摘要

肥胖症和相关合并症的流行突出了了解能量稳态调节的重要性。中枢黑皮质素系统在控制体重平衡方面起着关键作用。黑皮质素神经元感知并整合神经元和激素信号，然后向下游神经元发送调节性投射，释放致厌食或致厌食的黑色皮质素神经肽，以调节食物摄入和能量消耗。本综述总结了我们对黑皮质素通路在能量稳态中的作用的理解的最新进展。我们还回顾了通过影响中枢黑皮质素系统的机制导致肥胖的人类遗传变异的鉴定进展，这些变异为遗传易感患者的治疗提供了合理的目标。