Contribution of the central nervous system to peripheral neural control in obesity and diabetes.

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Obesity and diabetes are becoming major worldwide public health problems. A characteristic of human obese diabetes is a marked increase in sympathetic nerve activity to the kidneys and to the muscle. The cause of this overactivity is unknown, but undoubtedly involves the central nervous system. Within the brain are a select group of regions that are able to directly influence the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. We suspect these areas to play a critical role in the overactivity of the sympathetic nerve activity in obese diabetics. Indeed, we believe that there are specific chemical messengers in these select brain areas that are normally finely balanced. In obesity - diabetes, this balance is disturbed. Finally, we hypothesise that exercise, which is known to have beneficial effects for obesity - diabetes, restores the balance of the neurochemicals and this contributes to the positive outcomes of exercise.