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- Title
Electroacupuncture inhibits weight gain in diet-induced obese rats by activating hypothalamicLKB1-AMPK signaling.
- Authors
Jing Xu; Liang Chen; Lewei Tang; Le Chang; Si Liu; Jinfeng Tan; Yinglong Chen; Yulan Ren; Fanrong Liang; Jin Cui
- Abstract
Background: Electroacupuncture (EA) is reported to be an effective treatment for obesity, but its mechanism is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between hypothalamic LKB1-AMPK-ACC signaling and EA. Methods: Fifty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups fed either chow (chow-fed group) or high-fat diet (HF group). After 4 weeks of feeding, obese rats in the HF group (defined as weighing 20 % or more than rats in the chow-fed group) were randomly allocated into an EA or Diet-induced obesity (DIO) group. The EA group was given EA on bilateral ST25-ST36 for 4 weeks, while the DIO group received no further intervention. Body weight of the chow-fed, DIO, and EA groups were measured weekly. mRNA and protein levels of the hypothalamic LKB1-AMPK-ACC signaling pathway were detected using real-time (RT)-PCR and western blot, respectively. Results: After 4 weeks of EA treatment, the weight growth trend of rats in the EA group was inhibited compared with those in the DIO group. RT-PCR and western blotting showed that EA upregulated the transcription of Adenosine 5'-monophosphate -activated protein kinase α2 (AMPKα2), promoted protein expression of Liver kinase B1 (LKB1) and AMPKα1, and inhibited acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) protein expression in the hypothalamus. Conclusions: This study suggests that hypothalamic LKB1-AMPK-ACC signaling plays an important role in EA treatment for obesity.
- Subjects
OBESITY treatment; WEIGHT gain prevention; ANIMAL experimentation; BODY weight; CELLULAR signal transduction; DIET; ELECTROACUPUNCTURE; ENZYMES; HYPOTHALAMUS; POLYMERASE chain reaction; PROTEIN kinases; RATS; RESEARCH funding; STATISTICAL sampling; WESTERN immunoblotting; PRE-tests &; post-tests; DATA analysis software; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; ONE-way analysis of variance
- Publication
BMC Complementary & Alternative Medicine, 2015, Vol 15, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1472-6882
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1186/s12906-015-0667-7