Abstract
Obesity and high-fat diet (HFD) consumption result in hypothalamic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction. While the TLR4 activation by dietary fats is a well-characterized pathway involved in the neuronal and glial inflammation, the role of its accessory proteins in diet-induced hypothalamic inflammation remains unknown. Here, we demonstrate that the knockdown of TLR4-interactor with leucine-rich repeats (Tril), a functional component of TLR4, resulted in reduced hypothalamic inflammation, increased whole-body energy expenditure, improved the systemic glucose tolerance and protection from diet-induced obesity. The POMC-specific knockdown of Tril resulted in decreased body fat, decreased white adipose tissue inflammation and a trend toward increased leptin signaling in POMC neurons. Thus, Tril was identified as a new component of the complex mechanisms that promote hypothalamic dysfunction in experimental obesity and its inhibition in the hypothalamus may represent a novel target for obesity treatment.