Effect of Herbal Acupuncture with Sang-hwang(Phellinus linteus) on High Fat Diet-induced Obesity in Rats

Abstract

Acupuncture has fairly good weight-reducing effect in treating simple obesity due to the neuroendocrine regulation. In this study, the anti-obesity effects of herbal acupuncture (HA) with Sang-hwang (Phellinus linteus) at Fuai (SP16) were investigated in the rat fed on high-fat (HF) diet. Sang-hwang mushroom has been proven to have anti-carcinogenic effects and Sang-hwang extracts are highly effective in treatment and preventive treatment of AIDS, diabetes and high blood-pressure. To determine whether the Sang-hwang herbal acupuncture may have the anti-obesity effect, male Sprague-Dawley (4-wk-old) rats were fed a HF diet for 5 wk, which produced significant weight gain compared to rats were fed a normal diet, and then herbal acupuncture were treated for 3 wk in HF diet group. The body weight, food consumption, food effeciency ratio (FER), body fat mass, plasma nitric oxide (NO) were investigated in rats fed on normal diet, HF diet, and HF diet with HA (HF-diet-HA) groups. NO has been proposed to be involved in the regulation of food intake. In addition, the expression of appetite peptides such as orexigenic peptide neuropeptide Y (NPY) and the anorectic peptide cholecystokinin (CCK) were observed in the hypothalamus. HF-HA group reduced body weight gain, FER, body fat contents and NO concentration compared to HF diet group. The expression of NPY was reduced in arcuate nucleus (ARC), and CCK was increased in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) after treatment of HA. In conclusion, Sang-hwang HA reduced adipocity, plasma NO and hypothalamic NPY, but increased CCK expression in the HF diet-induced obesity rat, therefore HA may have anti-obesity action through regulating body weight and appetite peptide of the central nervous system.

Keywords

• Antiobesity
• Sang-hwang mushroom
• body fat mass
• plasma nitric oxide
• neuropeptide Y
• cholecystokinin
• hypothalamus