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NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS

Can a Western high-fat diet lead to painful neuropathy?

Nature Metabolism volume 3, pages 735–736 (2021)Cite this article

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Neuropathy is a painful and potentially crippling disorder that is common in people with diabetes and often affects people with obesity, yet the underlying reason is poorly understood. Boyd al. now reveal that a diet enriched in ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) triggers peripheral neuropathy in mice, and this effect is reversed by a diet enriched in ω-3 PUFAs. These findings may help explain the high incidence of neuropathies in people with diet-related obesity without diabetes, and may provide a potential target for the prevention and treatment of this metabolic and neurological disorder.

Painful peripheral neuropathies are caused by damage to the axons projecting toward the periphery and are characterized by two phenomena (Fig. 1b). First, the distal fibres of many sensory neurons are damaged and often destroyed. This loss of nerve endings is common in diabetic neuropathy and also after chemotherapy, and it can cause debilitating weakness and often numbness, particularly in the hands and feet. Second, the nearby neurons whose fibres remain intact become hypersensitive. For some affected people, even putting on a shirt can be torturous, because the fabric stimulates the fibres of these nociceptors, thus causing hyperexcitability. Furthermore, activation of low-threshold mechanoceptors may trigger pain after neuropathy, termed tactile allodynia or touch-induced pain. Although the symptoms of neuropathy are well known, a better understanding of how to prevent and treat these disorders is desperately needed2.

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Fig. 1: Diets rich in ω-6 PUFAs can trigger painful neuropathy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Translational Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Aidan McGinnis & Ru-Rong Ji

  2. Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Ru-Rong Ji

  3. Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Ru-Rong Ji

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  1. Aidan McGinnis
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  2. Ru-Rong Ji
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Correspondence to Ru-Rong Ji.

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McGinnis, A., Ji, RR. Can a Western high-fat diet lead to painful neuropathy?. Nat Metab 3, 735–736 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-021-00411-w

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