[Frontiers in Bioscience 16, 1-12, January 1, 2011]

Is insulin resistance a disorder of the brain?

Undurti N Das 1, Gaston Repossi 2,3, Alejandro Dain 2, Aldo Renato Eynard 2,3

1Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada-533 003, India and UND Life Sciences, 13800 Fairhill Road, 321, Shaker Heights, OH 44120, USA, 2Instituto de Biologia Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Medicas, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Ciudad Universitaria, Barros esquina Gordillo, Cordoba (5000), Argentina, 3CONICET, Argentina

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. Parasympathetic and sympathetic tones and insulin resistance
4. Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal pathway and parasympathetic and sympathetic systems and hypothalamic neuropeptide Y in insulin resistance
5. NPY, leptin, GLUT-4, melanocortin, and insulin interact to play a role in insulin resistance
6. Insulin and brain
7. Insulin and brain monoamines
8. Acknowledgements
9. References

1. ABSTRACT

There is reasonable evidence to suggest that insulin resistance may have its origins in the hypothalamus. Insulin secretion is regulated by sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and modulates the concentrations of hypothalamic neuropeptides and monoaminergic neurotransmitters, and, in return, hypothalamic monoamines regulate the secretion of insulin by pancreatic beta cells. A lesion of the ventromedial hypothalamus produces all the features of the metabolic syndrome including insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. These and other evidence suggest that insulin resistance may very well be a disease of the brain.