Background: Obesity increases the risk of many diseases. White adipose tissue (WAT) browning is being targeted in the treatment of obesity. Berberine (BR) is a plant alkaloid, used mainly in treatment of diarrhea. Studies revealed that BR improves some metabolic disorders in obese but the browning effect of BR on WAT is not fully investigated.
Aim of the Work: Testing the possible impact of BR on browning of inguinal WAT (iWAT) of adult male albino rats, and to study its possible ameliorating effect on the obesity associated disturbed lipid profile.
Materials and Methods: Forty-eight adult male albino rats were divided into two main groups; normally fed diet group (NFD) and high fat diet group (HFD). Normal fat diet group was subdivided into three subgroups. Normal fat diet control group (NFDc) received no treatment. Normal fat diet-berberine low dose (NFD+BRL) group received 5mg/kg body weight (b.w) BR, and normal fat diet-berberine high dose (NFD+BRH) group received 10mg/kg b.w berberine. High fat diet group was subdivided into three subgroups: High fat diet control group (HFDc), high fat diet-berberine low dose (HFD+BRL) group and high fat diet-berberine high dose (HFD+BRH) group.
Results: Berberine promoted adipocyte browning in the iWAT, where the beige adipocytes were revealed. In addition, browning markers expression in iWAT; UCP1, PGC-1α and CIDEA increased. Also, BR ameliorated the disturbed lipid profile in HFD group.
Conclusion: Berberine showed to be a safe browning agent which also improved the dyslipidemia occurred in HFD group. Berberine high dose showed better results than the lower dose. Thus, we believe that BR has excellent potential as an effective safe anti-obesity agent.