Social isolation promotes hyperglycemia through sympathetic activation of inguinal white adipose tissue

Epidemiological studies have reported that social isolation increases the risk of diabetes, but the underlying neural mechanism remains unclear. Using a long-term single-housed (SH) mouse model of social isolation, SH mice not only exhibited disrupted glucose homeostasis, evidenced by elevated fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, and reduced Insulin sensitivity, but also showed hypertrophic adipocytes and altered lipid metabolism. To elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying these metabolic disturbances, retrograde trans-synaptic tracing revealed the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and locus coeruleus (LC) as the most PRV-labeled brain regions, suggesting their potential roles in social isolation-induced hyperglycemia. Critically, chemical ablation of sympathetic nerves using 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) restored glycemia and improved Insulin sensitivity in SH mice. Together, these findings indicate that social isolation promotes hyperglycemia through sympathetic activation targeting inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT), revealing specific neural mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets for social isolation-induced metabolic dysregulation.

Glucose metabolism; Social isolation; Sympathetic nerves; White adipose tissue.