BACKGROUND The Kampo medicine bofutsushosan (BTS; Pulvis ledebouriellae compositae; Fang Feng Tong Sheng San) has been used as an anti-obesity treatment in overweight patients. In this study, we assessed the underlying physiological changes induced by BTS in obese mice maintained on a high-fat diet. METHODS Male ICR mice were fed a 60% kcal fat diet for 5 weeks starting at 4 weeks of age and ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of risperidone on energy expenditure and weight gain in female C57BL/6J mice. DESIGN AND METHODS Body weight and composition, food intake, energy expenditure, and activity were determined weekly. mRNA expression of uncoupling protein 1 in brown adipose tissue, orexin, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the hypothalamus were quantified using real-time ...

High uncoupling protein 1 (Ucp1) expression is a characteristic of differentiated brown adipocytes and linked to adipogenic differentiation. Paracrine fibroblast growth factor 8b (FGF8b) strongly induces Ucp1 transcription in white independent adipogenesis. Here, we report that FGF8b other paracrine FGFs act on preadipocytes upregulate via FGFR1-MEK1/2-ERK1/2 axis, Transcriptomic analysis revea...

The relationship between interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT) thermogenic potential and vitamin A status was investigated by studying the effects of feeding a vitamin A-deficient diet and all-trans retinoic acid (tRA) treatment on body weight and IBAT parameters in mice. Feeding a vitamin A-deficient diet tended to trigger opposite effects to those of tRA treatment, namely increased body w...

The prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes has become a major economic and medical burden worldwide. Increased food intake and reduced physical activity have contributed to a shift in energy balance, resulting in excess energy storage in the white adipose tissue (WAT) depots. In contrast to WAT, brown adipose tissue (BAT) converts excess energy into heat via uncoupled respiration, which is d...

To determine the effects of food restriction and leptin administration on several transcripts involved in energy homeostasis, we examined leptin, uncoupling proteins (UCP) 1, 2 and 3, lipoprotein lipase (LPL), beta3-adrenergic receptors (beta3AR) and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) mRNA levels in brown adipose tissue (BAT) and epididymal (EWAT) and perirenal (PWAT) white adipose tissue in three ...

C57Bl mice exhibit impaired glucose metabolism by the late adult age under standard living conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate white adipose tissue (WAT), brown adipose tissue (BAT), and skeletal muscle expression of genes involved in carbohydrate-lipid metabolism at postpubertal stages preceding the late adult age in C57Bl mice. Muscle mRNA levels of uncoupling protein 3 (Ucp3) a...

Introduction Brown adipose tissue (BAT) dissipates energy in the form of heat majorly via mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). The activation BAT, which is enriched neck area and contains brown beige adipocytes humans, was considered as a potential therapeutic target to treat obesity. Therefore, finding novel agents that can stimulate differentiation recruitment or thermogenic are importa...

Okamatsu-Ogura Y, Kitao N, Kimura K, Saito M. Brown fat UCP1 is not involved in the febrile and thermogenic responses to IL-1 in mice. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 292: E1135–E1139, 2007. First published December 12, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00425.2006.—The activity of brown adipose tissue (BAT), a site of nonshivering metabolic thermogenesis, has been reported to increase after interleukin (...

INTRODUCTION A diet containing a high amount of fat has been shown, in short-term studies, to increase the expression of pancreatic lipase and colipase. AIM To investigate the effects of long-term high-fat-feeding (113 days) on the mRNA expression of pancreatic lipase, colipase, pancreatic lipase-related proteins (1 and 2), and uncoupling proteins during the development of obesity and glucose...