Abstract
Obesity commonly occurs in postmenopausal women, increasing the risk of various diseases. Estrogen can prevent obesity by activating lipid metabolism and suppressing depressive behavior. However, the reasons for obesity in postmenopausal women are not clearly elucidated.To mimic the effect of estrogen decline in postmenopausal women, we analyzed the behavior and the lipid metabolism-related genes, PPARγ and CD36 in ovariectomized (OVX) mice. The OVX mice showed increased visceral fat mass and PPARγ and CD36 expression in the visceral fat. In contrast, they were not significantly affected in terms of physical activity and food intake. Further, subcutaneous supplementation of estrogen effectively suppressed the increase in subcutaneous and visceral fat mass in OVX mice.We conclude that obesity in postmenopausal women is unlikely to be caused by overeating and reduction in physical activity, and subcutaneous supplementation of estrogen is an effective strategy to prevent obesity in postmenopausal women.
Highlights
Obesity, defined as an excess of body fat, is a growing public health crisis associated with the development of many disorders, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease [1,2] Body fat is distributed in subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral fat tissue, which have different metabolic properties
We expected that ovariectomy would increase dietary intake and reduce physical activity, but no differences in dietary intake nor physical activity were observed between the two groups
We reported that estrogens locally synthesized in the specific neurons of the perinatal mouse brain directly act on the neurons and play crucial roles in the organization of neuronal networks participating in the control of sexual, aggressive, and locomotive behaviors [7]
Summary
Obesity, defined as an excess of body fat, is a growing public health crisis associated with the development of many disorders, including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease [1,2] Body fat is distributed in subcutaneous adipose tissue and visceral fat tissue, which have different metabolic properties. Menopause causes deterioration of lipid metabolism and increases the tendency to develop obesity [3,4]. Ovariectomized (OVX) mice have been used to study changes in postmenopausal metabolism and reported to gain weight due to changes in lipid metabolism, as do menopausal women [5,6,7]. We investigated the effect of estrogen on exercise and behavior using Aromatase Knockout (ArKO) mice. ArKO mice showed increased body weight compared to wild-type mice, but this effect decreased over time [8]. Weight gain in OVX mice may be caused by abnormal lipid metabolism and by decreased momentum, as in the case of ArKO mice
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