Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. Feb 15, 2023; 14(2): 76-91
Published online Feb 15, 2023. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v14.i2.76
Insulin: A connection between pancreatic β cells and the hypothalamus
Brenda De la Cruz-Concepción, Yaccil Adilene Flores-Cortez, Martha Isela Barragán-Bonilla, Juan Miguel Mendoza-Bello, Monica Espinoza-Rojo
Brenda De la Cruz-Concepción, Yaccil Adilene Flores-Cortez, Martha Isela Barragán-Bonilla, Juan Miguel Mendoza-Bello, Monica Espinoza-Rojo, Molecular and Genomic Biology Laboratory, Faculty of Chemical-Biological Sciences, Autonomous University of Guerrero, Chilpancingo 39070, Guerrero, Mexico
Author contributions: De la Cruz-Concepción B and Espinoza-Rojo M designed the review and wrote the manuscript; Flores-Cortez YA prepared the figures; Mendoza-Bello JM and Barragán-Bonilla MI designed the table and edited the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors report having no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Monica Espinoza-Rojo, PhD, Researcher, Molecular and Genomic Biology Laboratory, Faculty of Chemical-Biological Sciences, Autonomous University of Guerrero, Av. Lázaro Cárdenas S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Chilpancingo 39090, Guerrero, Mexico. monicaespinoza@uagro.mx
Received: October 6, 2022
Peer-review started: October 6, 2022
First decision: November 18, 2022
Revised: December 13, 2022
Accepted: January 16, 2023
Article in press: January 16, 2023
Published online: February 15, 2023
Processing time: 131 Days and 9.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Insulin is the connection between the β cells of the pancreas and the hypothalamus. Insulin reaches the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus and represses the expression of orexigenic neuropeptides to suppress appetite. However, its function decreases when there is damage to the β cells of the pancreas. Its anorexigenic effect decreases and thus increases appetite. The excess of nutrients, specifically carbohydrates, aggravates the damage to β cells and induces obesity and/or diabetes and oxidative damage. The use of antioxidants constitutes a therapeutic approach that has been approached experimentally to regulate the negative effects of alterations in insulin secretion and function.