Macrophage polarization and obesity complications: what we can learn from experimental studies

Resumo

Clinical and experimental evidences pointed to the role of immune cells and inflammatory mediators on the development of diseases in obese patients. Therefore, it is our objective to explore experimental studies that approach the relationship between the different types of inflammatory reaction inside the adipose tissue, particularly the macrophage polarization and the development of obesity complications. Further, we intend to speculate how to translate this knowledge, obtained from experimental studies, to treatments applicable to the human diseases. PubMed database was sought using the terms “obesity”, “macrophage” and “polarization”. After applying the filters “Language - English” and “Species - Animals”, we arrived to 90 references. Sixty-two were excluded for being reviews or not related to the main subject. Results in experimental models of obesity pointed a relevant correlation between the macrophage polarization to a type 1 response (M1) inside white adipose tissue and the development of insulin resistance, diabetes and other complications of obesity. Several articles report strategies to shift to a type 2 phenotype (M2), using drugs or lifestyle changes. How these findings could be translated to new human treatments is still an open question that only well designed researches could answer.