Dioxins, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and the central regulation of energy balance

摘要: Dioxins are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that have attracted toxicological interest not only for the potential risk they pose to human health but also because of their unique mechanism action. This involves a specific, phylogenetically old intracellular receptor (the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, AHR) which has recently proven an integral regulatory role in number physiological processes, whose endogenous ligand is still elusive. A major acute impact dioxins laboratory animals wasting syndrome, represents puzzling and dramatic perturbation systems energy balance. single dose most potent dioxin, TCDD, can permanently readjust defended body weight set-point level thus providing potentially useful tool model research. Recent evidence response-selective modulation AHR action by alternative ligands suggests further even therapeutic implications might be possible future.