title: Adipokines: a link between obesity and dementia?
abstract: Being overweight or obese, as measured with body-mass index or central adiposity (waist circumference), and the trajectory of body-mass index over the life course have been associated with brain atrophy, white matter changes, disturbances of blood-brain barrier integrity, and risk of all-cause late-onset dementia and Alzheimer's disease. This observation leads us to question what it is about body-mass index that is associated with health of the brain and dementia risk. If high body-mass index and central adiposity represent an increase in adipose tissue, then the endocrine function of adipose tissue, mediated by adipose tissue hormones and adipokines, could be a clue to mechanisms that underlie the association with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Hundreds of adipokines have been identified, creating a complexity that is a challenge to simplify. Nonetheless, adipokines are being investigated in association with clinical dementia outcomes, and with imaging-based measures of brain volume, structure, and function in human beings and in preclinical models of clinical dementia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Amanda J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Kiliaan
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ilse A C
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Arnoldussen
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, State University of New York-Downstate Medical Center, New York, USA; Section for Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Neuropsychiatric Epidemiology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, Gothenburg, Sweden; UMS 011 Inserm Versailles Saint Quentin, France. Electronic address: deborah.gustafson@downstate.edu.
authors.forename: Deborah R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Gustafson
mesh_terms: D054392:Adipokines / Q000378:metabolism*; D003704:Dementia / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D054392:Adipokines