Editorial: Obesity and Diabetes: Implications for Brain-Immunometabolism

Metabolic diseases constitute risk factors for the development of neurodegenerative diseases, although the underlying mechanisms behind such effects are not fully clarified. de Mello and collaborators reviewed recent evidence linking defects in insulin signaling and autophagy to neurodegeneration and discuss potential interventions targeting these pathways (de Mello et al.). Next, Lizarbe et al. analyzed the effect of a high-fat diet on the cortex, the hippocampus, and the hypothalamus metabolic profiles. 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed that high-fat diet exposed mice have reduced levels of synaptic and glial proteins compromising hippocampal-dependent spatial memory (Lizarbe et al.). In this review, the authors outlined accumulating preclinical evidence for the therapeutic efficacy of cholinergic stimulation in alleviating obesity-associated inflammation, neuroinflammation, and metabolic derangements. [...]a rationale for further therapeutic developments using pharmacological and bioelectronics cholinergic modulation for clinical benefit was proposed.