ArticleNature communications2017
Sex differences in microglial CX3CR1 signalling determine obesity susceptibility in mice.
Article in Nature communications, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 111 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
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Who cites it
111 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 165 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Physical Exercise on High-Fat Diet-Induced Hypothalamic Inflammation: Systematic Review.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of diabetes on microglial physiology: a systematic review of in vitro, preclinical and clinical studies.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2023Pooled it
- Ablation of microglial estrogen receptor alpha predisposes male mice to diet-induced obesity.Metabolism: clinical and experimental · 2026Article
- The CX3CL1-CX3CR1 axis in HIV-associated inflammation and cardiometabolic disease.American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 2026Review
- Sex-Stratified Characterization of Behavioral, Hippocampal, and Microglial Androgen Responses to Adolescent High-Fat Diet Consumption in Mice.Nutrients · 2026Article
- ALKBH5-mediated microglia-neuron crosstalk inhibits sympathetic innervation and adipocyte browning in male mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Ovarian hormones and high-fat diet duration distinctively modulate hypothalamic chemokine profile.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Skin-resident Langerhans cells drive neuropathic pain via chemokine-dependent neuron-immune communication.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
- Redefining the timeline: a three-phase framework of hypothalamic microinflammation in metabolic disease.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- PRMT6 inhibition or deficiency attenuates diabetic neuropathic pain in male mice and is associated with reduced spinal neuroinflammation, microgliosis, and altered p53-p21 signaling.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Article
- Prolonged social isolation promotes depressive-like behavior in male and female mice, with sex-related differences in the stress response.Biology of sex differences · 2026Article
- The effect of neuroimmune signalling on drug addiction.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Microglial interferon signaling and Aβ plaque pathology are enhanced in female 5xFAD Alzheimer's disease mice, independent of estrous cycle stage.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- PLX3397-Induced Microglial Ablation Alters Adipose Tissue Accumulation in a Male-Female-Dependent Manner Under High-Energy-Diet Feeding.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Sex differences in central endozepine expression and regulation of appetite.Physiology & behavior · 2025Article
- The Resistin/TLR4/miR-155-5p axis: a novel signaling pathway in the onset of hypothalamic neuroinflammation.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Article
- Housing matters: Experimental variables shaping metabolism in obese mice.Molecular metabolism · 2025Article
- Navigating the Strengths and Constraints of Mouse Models in Obesity Research.Endocrinology · 2025Review
- Microglial ER stress response via IRE1α regulates diet-induced metabolic imbalance and obesity in mice.Molecular metabolism · 2025Article
- Central and peripheral neural circuits regulating glucose homeostasis.npj biomedical innovations · 2025Review
51 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Female mice are less susceptible to the negative metabolic consequences of high-fat diet feeding than male mice, for reasons that are incompletely understood. Here we identify sex-specific differences in hypothalamic microglial activation via the CX3CL1-CX3CR1 pathway that mediate the resistance of female mice to diet-induced obesity. Female mice fed a high-fat diet maintain CX3CL1-CX3CR1 levels while male mice show reductions in both ligand and receptor expression. Female Cx3cr1 knockout mice develop 'male-like' hypothalamic microglial accumulation and activation, accompanied by a marked increase in their susceptibility to diet-induced obesity. Conversely, increasing brain CX3CL1 levels in male mice through central pharmacological administration or virally mediated hypothalamic overexpression converts them to a 'female-like' metabolic phenotype with reduced microglial activation and body-weight gain. These data implicate sex differences in microglial activation in the modulation of energy homeostasis and identify CX3CR1 signalling as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of obesity.
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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.