Page 22 - Read Online

Wu et al. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2019;6:4 Neuroimmunology and
DOI: 10.20517/2347-8659.2019.07 Neuroinflammation

Editorial Open Access

Adiponectin: a pivotal role in the protection against
cerebral ischemic injury

Ming-Hsiu Wu

Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying, Tainan 73657, Taiwan.
Correspondence to: Dr. Ming-Hsiu Wu, Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liouying,
No.201, Taikang, Taikang Vil., Liuying Dist., Tainan City 736, Taiwan 73657, Taiwan. E-mail: galenmhwu@yahoo.com
How to cite this article: Wu MH. Adiponectin: a pivotal role in the protection against cerebral ischemic injury. Neuroimmunol
Neuroinflammation 2019;6:4. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-8659.2019.07

Received: 20 Feb 2019 Accepted: 6 Mar 2019 Published: 22 Mar 2019

Science Editor: Athanassios P. Kyritsis Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Adiponectin (APN), an adipokine which weights 30 kDa, is first identified in 1995 and almost exclusively
[1]
secreted by adipocytes . Its physiological and clinical significance has been extensively explored in these
years. A comprehensive review of adiponectin and its relating significance is beyond the scope of this article.
[2,3]
Although its relationship with cerebral ischemia and ischemic stroke has been reviewed previously , I try
to briefly address the pivotal role of adiponectin in the protection against cerebral ischemic injury in the
current article.

STRUCTURE AND BIOSYNTHESIS
There are 3 major oliogmeric multimers of APN: the low-molecular-weight trimer, the middle-molecular-
[4,5]
weight hexamer, and the high-molecular-weight (HMW) 12-18 multimers . HMW adiponectin has been
proposed to be the most potent form and drives the physiological role of adiponectin, as evidenced by some
[1,6]
in vitro and human studies . Also, a globular fragment of adiponectin (gAd) exists. It is generated as the
full-length adiponectin is cleaved by leukocyte elastase which are secreted from activated monocytes and/or
neutrophils. As compared with other isoforms, it remains at low circulating levels, only accounting for about
[7]
1% of total adiponectin . The expression of adiponectin are under the regulation of several transcriptional
factors, including CCAAT-enhancer-binding proteins, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, and
[6]
sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c .

PHYSIOLOGICAL AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL ROLES IN HUMAN DISEASES
The physiological role of adiponectin is mainly involved in insulin sensitivity and regulation of metabolism
[8]
of glucose and lipids . Furthermore, it has pleiotropic effects including anti-inflammation, anti-
© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

www.nnjournal.net