Stress prompts brown fat into combustion
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Cell Metabolism
|August 8, 2014
Summary
Neural signaling from the brain to brown fat activates thermogenesis, raising body temperature. This pathway is crucial for psychological stress-induced hyperthermia in rats, suggesting a link to human psychogenic fever.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Physiology
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Brown fat thermogenesis is regulated by neural pathways.
- Psychological stress can induce physiological changes, including elevated body temperature.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of dorsomedial hypothalamic-rostral medullary raphe neural signaling in stress-induced hyperthermia.
- To explore the brain-brown fat thermogenic mechanism in psychological stress.
Main Methods:
- Utilized rat models to study neural signaling pathways.
- Measured body temperature responses to psychological stress.
Main Results:
- Activation of the dorsomedial hypothalamic-rostral medullary raphe pathway promotes brown fat thermogenesis.
- This neural signaling plays a key role in psychological stress-induced hyperthermia in rats.
Conclusions:
- The brain-brown fat thermogenic pathway is implicated in stress-induced hyperthermia.
- This finding suggests a potential mechanism for human psychogenic fever.
![Visualization and Quantification of Brown and Beige Adipose Tissues in Mice using [18F]FDG Micro-PET/MR Imaging](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.jove.com%2FCDNSource%2Fteasers%2F62460.jpg&w=3840&q=50)
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