BRAIN-DERIVED NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR: A NEW ADIPOKINE
Federica Sornelli1, Marco Fiore1, George N. Chaldakov2, and Luigi Aloe1
1Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine, CNR-European Brain Research Institute, Rome, Italy and 2Division of Cell Biology, Medical University, Varna, Bulgaria
Since leptin discovery in 1994, an extensive body of work has been demonstrating that adipose tissue (mainly its white phenotype) expresses not only metabolic, but also endocrine and paracrine phenotypes, particularly in adipobiology of disease. This new biology is achieved predominantly through secretion of adipokines, which include more than hundred highly active signaling proteins. However, studies on adipobiology of neurotrophins have recently emerged, nerve growth factor being one example of adipose-derived neurotrophins. Here we present data showing that brain-derived neurotrophic factor is also expressed in both white and brown adipose tissue.
Biomed Rev 2007; 18: 85-88.
Key words: adipose tissue, neurotrophins, diabetes, stress
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Received 12 November 2007, accepted 15 December 2007.
Correspondence and reprint request to Dr Luigi Aloe, Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine, CNR, NGF Section, Via del Fosso di Fiorano, 64/65, I-00143 Rome, Italy. 39 06501703240; Fax: 39 06501703313;
E-mail:aloe@inmm.cnr.it
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