Choi Ji-Young, Kim Ye Jin, Cho Su-Jung, Kwon Eun-Young, Ryu Ri, Choi Myung-Sook
Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Kyungpook National University, 1370 Sankyuk Dong Puk-Ku, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
Center for Food and Nutritional Genomics Research, Kyungpook National University, 1370 Sankyuk Dong Puk-Ku, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
Int J Mol Sci. 2017 Apr 1;18(4):747. doi: 10.3390/ijms18040747.
Taeeumjowuitang (TJ) is an alternative herbal medicine that has been used to treat obesity in Korea. The molecular mechanisms involved in TJ-induced anti-obesity effects have not yet been determined. The aim of the current study was to elucidate the effects of TJ on obesity and metabolic syndrome, by analyzing the transcriptional and metabolic responses to TJ treatment. C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat or high-fat + 3% (/) TJ diet for 12 weeks. Their phenotypic characteristics were measured and the anti-obesity mechanism was elucidated, based on the RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) transcriptomic profiles in an animal model of obesity. TJ treatment ameliorated insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and hepatic steatosis in high-fat diet-induced obese mice, with a simultaneous reduction in body weight gain by enhancing energy expenditure and suppressing adiposity. An analysis of the global transcriptional changes by RNA-seq revealed that TJ upregulated mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation-associated genes in epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT), suggesting an enhanced mitochondrial function after TJ treatment. Moreover, TJ effectively attenuated the high-fat diet-induced inflammatory response through transcriptional changes in eWAT. Our findings provide some mechanistic insights into the effects of TJ, an alternative oriental medicine, in the treatment of obesity and its comorbidities. They demonstrate that metabolic and transcriptional responses to diet-induced obesity with TJ treatment were desirable in adipose tissue metabolism.
太极丸（TJ）是一种在韩国用于治疗肥胖症的替代草药。TJ诱导的抗肥胖作用所涉及的分子机制尚未确定。本研究的目的是通过分析对TJ治疗的转录和代谢反应，阐明TJ对肥胖症和代谢综合征的影响。将C57BL/6J小鼠喂食高脂或高脂+3%（/）TJ饮食12周。测量它们的表型特征，并根据肥胖动物模型中的RNA测序（RNA-seq）转录组图谱阐明抗肥胖机制。TJ治疗改善了高脂饮食诱导的肥胖小鼠的胰岛素抵抗、血脂异常和肝脂肪变性，同时通过增加能量消耗和抑制肥胖来减轻体重增加。通过RNA-seq对全局转录变化的分析表明，TJ上调了附睾白色脂肪组织（eWAT）中与线粒体氧化磷酸化相关的基因，表明TJ治疗后线粒体功能增强。此外，TJ通过eWAT中的转录变化有效减轻了高脂饮食诱导的炎症反应。我们的研究结果为替代东方药物TJ在治疗肥胖症及其合并症方面的作用提供了一些机制性见解。它们表明，在脂肪组织代谢中，TJ治疗对饮食诱导的肥胖症的代谢和转录反应是理想的。
