title: Bofutsushosan ameliorates obesity in mice through modulating PGC-1α expression in brown adipose tissues and inhibiting inflammation in white adipose tissues.
abstract: The inducible co-activator PGC-1α plays a crucial role in adaptive thermogenesis and increases energy expenditure in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Meanwhile, chronic inflammation caused by infiltrated-macrophage in the white adipose tissue (WAT) is a target for the treatment of obesity. Bofutsushosan (BF), a traditional Chinese medicine composed of 17 crude drugs, has been widely used to treat obesity in China, Japan, and other Asia countries. However, the mechanism underlying anti-obesity remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we demonstrated that BF oral administration reduced the body weight of obese mice induced by high-fat diet (HFD) and alleviated the level of biochemical markers (P < 0.05), including blood glucose (Glu), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL-C) and insulin. Our further results also indicated that oral BF administration increased the expression of PGC-1α and UCP1 in BAT. Moreover, BF also reduced the expression of inflammatory cytokines in WAT, such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). These findings suggested that the mechanism of BF against obesity was at least partially through increasing gene expression of PGC-1α and UCP1 for energy consumption in BAT and inhibiting inflammation in WAT.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Biochemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Complex Prescription, Institute of Chinese Materia Medica, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: Ying-Ying
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Biochemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Biochemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Mei-Jing
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Biochemistry, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: ybzhang@cpu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yu-Bin
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D002001:Adipose Tissue, Brown / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D052436:Adipose Tissue, White / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D000818:Animals; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D000071248:Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1-alpha / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D000071256:Uncoupling Protein 1 / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D015850:Interleukin-6; D000071248:Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Gamma Coactivator 1-alpha; C485290:Ppargc1a protein, mouse; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; C000604372:Ucp1 protein, mouse; D000071256:Uncoupling Protein 1; C098310:bofu-tsusho-san
keywords: Bofutsushosan; Inflammation; Obesity; PGC-1α; UCP1