Elsevier

Clinics in Dermatology

Volume 7, Issue 4, October–December 1989, Pages 62-77
Clinics in Dermatology

The nervous system and adipose tissue

https://doi.org/10.1016/0738-081X(89)90043-6Get rights and content

Abstract

Strict physiological controls exist for the use and storage of adipose tissue so that thermoregulatory and metabolic demands for energy can be sustained. Such controls are affected by hormonal and neural mediators, often interacting both at peripheral and central sites. The role of the autonomic nervous system in regard to these functions has been widely investigated in vitro and in vivo in animals and man. The effects of classical sensory or motor components of the nervous system on adipose tissue are less clearly established. For example, pain is a feature of many disorders of fat tissue and the possible role of the autonomic nervous system versus sensory nerves in mediating pain must be considered.

The sensory nervous system has been believed to be of little importance to adipose tissue, but the recent finding of sensory nerves within adipose tissue raises issues of interest to dermatologists. In addition to a potential role in pain sensation, neuropeptides released by antidromic stimulation of sensory nerves have been shown to have an important role in cutaneous inflammation, and it is possible that they might also initiate or perpetuate inflammation within adipose tissue.

The autonomic nervous system may also play a trophic role in maintaining adipose tissue. In conditions such as scleroderma where autonomic control is deranged, there are profound changes in the subcutaneous tissues.

Factors that predispose individuals to local or generalized hypertrophy of adipose tissue are still poorly defined, but there is evidence that the autonomic nervous system may not be functioning fully in obese subjects, either as a primary or secondary phenomenon. The finding that many peptide hormones known to exist within the gastrointestinal tract also act as neurotransmitters in the central nervous system raises the possibility that these hormones may regulate appetite and satiety.

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