Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity (Aug 2023)
Abdominal Massage Ameliorates Inguinal Fat Accumulation via Augmentation of PPARγ Signaling in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice
Abstract
Jie Zhang,1 Tieshan Wang,2 Yinghui Shi,1 Yansong Liu,1 Tao Lu1 1School of Life Science, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Beijing Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Tao Lu, School of Life Science, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 11 Beisanhuandong Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8610 6428 6705, Fax +86 10 6428 6821, Email [email protected]: With the increase in prevalence and decrease in age of the obese population, safer weight loss methods have attracted growing attention. While abdominal massage (AM) has been clinically proven for weight loss, the mechanism thereof has yet to be elucidated. We aimed to investigate the effect of AM on abdominal fat in obese mice fed a high-fat diet and explore the possible mechanisms involved.Materials and Methods: Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet for 16 weeks and then treated with AM for 5 weeks; mice fed a standard diet were used as normal controls. Blood and adipose tissue, including inguinal white adipose tissue (WAT) and epididymal WAT, were collected from the mice after the intervention. We explored the mechanism of weight reduction through inguinal WAT transcriptome sequencing, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) validation, and Western blot.Results: The results revealed that AM decreased fat mass, weight, glucose, and serum lipid levels. Meanwhile, AM enhanced the expression of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) and other downstream genes (Fabp4, Acox3, Pck1, and Aqp7) in inguinal WAT. In addition, AM increased the expression of PPARγ protein.Conclusion: AM may promote fatty acid oxidation, lipid metabolism, and glucose homeostasis by activating the PPARγ signaling pathway in inguinal WAT, thereby exhibiting therapeutic efficacy against obesity, even in the presence of a persistent high-fat diet.Keywords: abdominal massage, inguinal white adipose tissue, high-fat diet, transcriptome sequencing, PPARγ
