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The interactions between energy homeostasis and neurovascular plasticity

Nature Reviews Endocrinology (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Food intake and energy expenditure are sensed and processed by multiple brain centres to uphold energy homeostasis. Evidence from the past decade points to the brain vasculature as a new critical player in regulating energy balance that functions in close association with the local neuronal networks. Nutritional imbalances alter many properties of the neurovascular system (such as neurovascular coupling and blood–brain barrier permeability), thus suggesting a bidirectional link between the nutritional milieu and neurovascular health. Increasing numbers of people are consuming a Western diet (comprising ultra-processed food with high-fat and high-sugar content) and have a sedentary lifestyle, with these factors contributing to the current obesity epidemic. Emerging pharmacological interventions (for example, glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists) successfully trigger weight loss. However, whether these approaches can reverse the detrimental effects of long-term exposure to the Western diet (such as neurovascular uncoupling, neuroinflammation and blood–brain barrier disruption) and maintain stable body weight in the long-term needs to be clarified in addition to possible adverse effects. Lifestyle interventions revert the nutritional trigger for obesity and positively affect our overall health, including the cardiovascular system. This Perspective examines how lifestyle interventions affect the neurovascular system and neuronal networks.

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Fig. 1: Pathological rewiring of the neurovascular landscape of the hypothalamus.
Fig. 2: The effects of lifestyle on neurovascular health.

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Acknowledgements

M.S. acknowledges support from the McCluskey family, E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation and Interstellar Initiative (NYAS/AMED). The authors acknowledge the support of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases 4R00DK1208689.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cellular and Molecular Physiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Bandy Chen, David Meseguer, Anne Eichmann & Marc Schneeberger

  2. Sorbonne Université, Institut Du Cerveau-Paris Brain Institute-ICM, Inserm U1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Paris, France

    Elisa de Launoit & Nicolas Renier

  3. Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Helmholtz Diabetes Center, Helmholtz Munich & German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), Neuherberg, Germany

    Cristina Garcia Caceres

  4. Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik IV, Klinikum der Universität, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Cristina Garcia Caceres

  5. Cardiovascular Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Anne Eichmann

  6. Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, Inserm U970, Université Paris, Paris, France

    Anne Eichmann

  7. Wu Tsai Institute for Mind and Brain, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Marc Schneeberger

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  1. Bandy Chen
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  2. Elisa de Launoit
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Contributions

M.S. and B.C. researched data for the article. M.S., B.C. C.G.C., A.E. and N.R. contributed substantially to discussion of the content. M.S., B.C., C.G.C., A.E. and N.R. wrote the article. All authors reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Bandy Chen or Marc Schneeberger.

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Nature Reviews Endocrinology thanks Jose Donato Jr, Yong Xu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Chen, B., de Launoit, E., Meseguer, D. et al. The interactions between energy homeostasis and neurovascular plasticity. Nat Rev Endocrinol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-024-01021-8

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