Linoleic acid rescues microglia inflammation triggered by saturated fatty acid

Elevated saturated free fatty acid levels during over-nutrition lead to hypothalamic inflammation, which perturbs energy homeostasis. Whether brain-derived metabolites are coupled to the development of obesity pathogenesis during the early over-nutrition period has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we found increased linoleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid, in both the whole brain and hypothalamus of mice fed a high-fat diet for 4 weeks. Furthermore, we observed that linoleic acid effectively reversed the inflammatory responses induced by palmitic acid treatment in microglial cells. Collectively, this study suggests the reversible function of linoleic acid on brain inflammation in association with microglial activation during short-term exposure to a high-fat diet.