ArticleThe Journal of clinical investigation2012
Obesity is associated with hypothalamic injury in rodents and humans.
Article in The Journal of clinical investigation, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 1,014 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1,014 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,804 citations in OpenAlex.
- Brain structural and functional changes in childhood and adolescent obesity: a systematic review of MRI studies.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- The metabolic endotoxemia and gut microbiota: research trajectories and hot trends across the centuries (1999-2024).Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Microglia Mediate Metabolic Dysfunction From Common Air Pollutants Through NF-κB Signaling.Diabetes · 2024Pooled it
- High-fat diet intake induces neuroinflammation and alters the dopaminergic system in the amygdala of juvenile rats.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Caffeine and Exercise in Obesity-Associated Brain Aging and Neurodegeneration: Mechanistic Insights into AMPK/SIRT1/PGC-1α, BDNF/TrkB, and NLRP3 Inflammasome Signaling.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Leptin-sensitive hypothalamic Lepr+/Glp1r+ neurons limit hyperphagia and weight gain in diet-induced obesity.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Ablation of microglial estrogen receptor alpha predisposes male mice to diet-induced obesity.Metabolism: clinical and experimental · 2026Article
- Targeting estrogen to the brain via DHED does not seem to protect against metabolic dysfunction in obese OVX mice.Endocrinology · 2026Article
- Behavioral, neuroanatomic, and neuroinflammatory characteristics of metabolic syndrome in cafeteria diet-induced obese male rats.Metabolic brain disease · 2026Article
- Article
- Obesity, Oxidative Stress, and Inflammation in Precocious Puberty: Do All Roads Lead to the Hypothalamus?International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Diet-Dependent Effects of Intracerebroventricular Maresin-1 on Hypothalamus of Rats.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- The beneficial properties of CBDA in diet-induced neuroinflammation.Inflammopharmacology · 2026Article
- Hypothalamic Inflammaging: A Central Driver of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Metabolic Disease in Aging.Diabetes & metabolism journal · 2026Review
- Single-cell profiling identifies obesity-disrupted brain glucose sensing.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Hypothalamic neurovascular and extracellular matrix remodeling: Cellular niche orchestration of immune-metabolic adaptation to nutritional stress.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Per-Capita Food Availability and Global Dementia Burden Across Multiple Exposure Windows.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Weight loss aggravates obesity-induced hypothalamic inflammation in mid-aged mice.GeroScience · 2026Article
- The Gut-brain-adipose Axis in Ultra-processed Food and Obesity: A Mechanistic Synthesis and Its Implications for Food Classification.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Hypothalamic Inflammation as a Critical Link Between Metabolic Dysfunction and Impaired Endometrial Receptivity in Obese Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.Physiological research · 2026Article
954 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
19 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Rodent models of obesity induced by consuming high-fat diet (HFD) are characterized by inflammation both in peripheral tissues and in hypothalamic areas critical for energy homeostasis. Here we report that unlike inflammation in peripheral tissues, which develops as a consequence of obesity, hypothalamic inflammatory signaling was evident in both rats and mice within 1 to 3 days of HFD onset, prior to substantial weight gain. Furthermore, both reactive gliosis and markers suggestive of neuron injury were evident in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus of rats and mice within the first week of HFD feeding. Although these responses temporarily subsided, suggesting that neuroprotective mechanisms may initially limit the damage, with continued HFD feeding, inflammation and gliosis returned permanently to the mediobasal hypothalamus. Consistent with these data in rodents, we found evidence of increased gliosis in the mediobasal hypothalamus of obese humans, as assessed by MRI. These findings collectively suggest that, in both humans and rodent models, obesity is associated with neuronal injury in a brain area crucial for body weight control.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.