Portuguese scientists revealed a key process with which the brain and the immune system interact to burn deep stocks of visceral fat in the stomach. This is reported in an article published in the journal Nature.
Visceral fat is surrounded by the abdominal organs, and during excess accumulation can cause dangerous health problems, such as heart disease and cancer. The researchers assumed that the nervous system and the immune system are somehow connected to control the accumulation of visceral fat. To prove the hypothesis, scientists removed the mesenchymal cells from visceral fat mice. It turned out that at the same time neighboring immune cells, known as congenital type limpoid cells 2 (ILC2), cease to regulate the growth of fat.
To track the nerves that innervate the mesenchymal cells, to their source, the researchers have introduced a glowing retrovirus into the nerve fibers. Scientists have found that signals controlling visceral fat proceeded from individual sections of the brain barrel, mid-brain, almonds and hypothalamus. The core of the hypothalamus, as scientists consider, is a “central node” to control fat. Hence the signals are sent to certain immune cells to provide energy balance throughout the body.
As for visceral fat around the lungs, neural signals, apparently, go straight to ilc2. In the future, researchers plan to find out that first of all launches the core of the hypothalamus to send fat burning signals in the body. It is also worth finding out why there are ilc2 in some warehouses of visceral fat, which can be directly innecurated with a sympathetic nervous system, while others need translators, such as mesenchymal cells.