Brain-Organ Communication: Neural Regulation of Metabolism and Developmental Programming

The central nervous system (CNS) plays a fundamental role in the regulation of systemic metabolism, operating through autonomic efferent pathways (sympathetic and parasympathetic) governing the function of peripheral metabolic organs including the liver, adipose tissue, pancreas, and skeletal muscle. Rather than a unidirectional communication, CNS continuously integrates afferent signals arising from peripheral tissues, including vagal sensory inputs, circulating humoral factors, and organ-derived metabolites, forming a dynamic bidirectional brain-organ axis.

Furthermore, within the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) field, adverse exposures during the critical phases of development (gestation, lactation and adolescence) can permanently reprogram hypothalamic and brainstem circuits governing autonomic outflow and neuroendocrine system, promoting metabolic dysfunction and increasing the risk to the development of diseases later in life. Recent advances in neuroscience such as tissue clearing, optogenetics, viral tracing and chemogenetics, have begun to reveal these axes. Alterations in autonomic control of peripheral metabolic organs are emerging as a critical pathophysiological mechanism in conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. These discoveries open new opportunities for identifying neural and neuroendocrine targets amenable to therapeutic intervention across the metabolic disease spectrum.

This Research Topic invites contributions that advance the understanding of CNS peripheral metabolic crosstalk in health, disease and development, with the goal of identifying novel mechanisms and therapeutic targets across the life course. To gather further insights into this important and clinically relevant field, we welcome the submission of original research articles and reviews across the following thematic areas:

• Neural circuitry and autonomic outflow to metabolic organs

• Neuroendocrine axes and peripheral metabolic control

• CNS regulation of liver function

• Central control of pancreatic endocrine function

• Neural regulation of adipose tissue thermogenesis and lipolysis

• CNS control of skeletal muscle glucose uptake and protein metabolism

• Gut-brain axis in metabolic regulation

• Developmental programming of central metabolic circuits

• Methodological advances in neural-metabolic research

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, hypothalamus, brainstem, brain–organ axis, metabolic regulation, hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism, adipose tissue thermogenesis, pancreatic endocrine function, skeletal muscle metabolism, developmental programming, DOHaD, neuroendocrine control, vagal signaling, optogenetics, chemogenetics, viral circuit tracing, tissue clearing, gut–brain axis, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neural therapeutic targets, life course, sympathetic, parasympathetic, afferent, efferent

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.