title: Fat meets the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway.
abstract: The cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway is a neural mechanism that is controlled by the vagus nerve and inhibits local cytokine release, thereby preventing the damaging effects of cytokine overproduction. A new study now shows that dietary fat can activate this pathway, a finding that may help explain the immune system's failure to react to food antigens and commensal bacteria. Here we discuss this new data and its potential implications for dietary intervention in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.
authors.affiliation: North Shore-LIJ Research Institute, Manhassset, NY 11030, USA. kjtracey@nshs.edu
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Tracey
mesh_terms: D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000276:immunology*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000276:immunology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D015213:Neuroimmunomodulation / Q000276:immunology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000276:immunology*; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D004041:Dietary Fats; D000109:Acetylcholine