Electroacupuncture Reduces Weight in Diet-Induced Obese Rats via Hypothalamic Tsc1 Promoter Demethylation and Inhibition of the Activity of mTORC1 Signaling Pathway.

Jincheng Leng,Yulei Luo,Ying Li,Junpeng Yao,Lin Zhang,Maoqing Hu,Xiahuan Dai,Feng Xiong

doi:10.1155/2018/3039783

Abstract

Subject The study aimed to investigate the mechanism of electroacupuncture reducing weight via tuberous sclerosis complex 1 (Tsc1) promoter methylation, inhibiting the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway. Materials and Methods Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into chow-fed group (chow group) or high-fat diet group (HF group) for 14 weeks. The obesity rats in HF group were randomly divided into electroacupuncture group (EA group) and diet-induced obesity (DIO) group, which received EA stimulation on bilateral ST25, RN12, SP6, and ST36 for 4 weeks or no further treatment, respectively. Methylation of the Tsc1 gene promoter and expression of agouti-related protein (AgRP), neuropeptide Y (NPY), and proopiomelanocortin (PoMC) were detected at the 18th week. Results At week 18, weight, body fat, and the body fat rate in DIO group were significantly higher than those of the chow and EA group. Compared with the chow group, the DIO group had increased methylation of the Tsc1 gene promoter and expression of mTORC1, AgRP, and NPY gene and decreased PoMC in the hypothalamus; after EA, methylation of the Tsc1 gene promoter, mRNA, and protein of the mTORC1 and expression of AgRP and NPY gene decreased and PoMC increased significantly. Conclusions Our study could shed light on the potential pathway where EA exerts effects on the mechanism of EA treatment for obesity through the hypothalamic Tsc1 promoter demethylation and inhibition of the activity of mTORC1 signaling pathway.

Highlights

Obesity can cause many complications, such as cardiocerebral disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and tumor, which has severely threatened human health and life and attracted much attention in many countries [1, 2]
At week 14, the weight of the chow group was 408.00 ± 34.75 g, while the average weights of the diet-induced obesity (DIO) group and the electroacupuncture therapy (EA) group were 513.44 ± 26.61 g and 501.44 ± 42.99 g, respectively, both significantly higher than that of the chow group
The body fat and the percentage of body fat in each group were decreased in the following order: the DIO group > the EA group > the chow group (Figure 1, Table 3)

Summary

Introduction

Obesity can cause many complications, such as cardiocerebral disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and tumor, which has severely threatened human health and life and attracted much attention in many countries [1, 2]. Obesity has globally reached epidemic proportions, as a result of being overweight or obese, at least 2.8 million people die each year. In 2014, data showed that over 1.9 billion people aged 18 years or older were overweight, including 600 million people with obesity, and the number of overweight or obese people showed a continuous increase trend [3]. Age-standardized prevalence of obesity grew from 3.2% in 1975 to 10.8% in 2014 and from 6.4% to 14.9% in women. Prevalence of severely obese was 2.3% and 5.0% in men and women, respectively, and the percentage of morbid obesity was 0.64% and 1.6% (1.3–1.9). Data showed that the incidence of obesity in male was 43.2 million people and the number of women obese was 46.4 million in China, which was the first in the world [4]. Obesity has been an urgent issue for us to resolve

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion