A study by Young-Hwan Jo, Ph.D., and colleagues, which published online on January 24 in Nature Communications, found that a small subset of vagal sensory neurons that project into the liver influence hepatic steatosis (the development of excess fat in the liver), energy balance, and anxiety-like behavior in mice fed a high-fat diet. 

The researchers showed that selectively destroying certain vagal neurons in the mice prevented diet-induced obesity by increasing energy expenditure and increased insulin sensitivity in male mice. Loss of those neurons also protected against hepatic steatosis by reducing fat accumulation in the liver. Intriguingly, the study also found that deleting those vagal neurons in mice reduced anxiety-like behavior compared with control mice on a high-fat diet. The findings indicate that modulating the vagal nerve could be a promising strategy for treating metabolic disorders such as fatty liver disease and obesity, as well as psychiatric disorders associated with those conditions.

Dr. Jo is professor of medicine, of molecular pharmacology, and in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience at Einstein.