Effects of Long-term Bezafibrate Treatment on Body Fat Accumulation and Tissue Triglyceride Content in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty Rats : Its Relation to the Expression of Uncoupling Protein 3 mRNA
Year: 2003
Type: article
Abstract: Fibrates stimulate β -oxidation of fatty acids in the liver and increase levels of uncoupling protein (UCP)-3 mRNA in white adipose tissue and skeletal muscle.We studied the effects of long-term bezafibrate treatment on body fat accumulation,tissue triglyceride content,and UCP-3 mRNA expression.M ale Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty rats were fed diets containing 2, 000 ppm (100 mg/kg), 200 ppm (10 mg/kg), or 0 ppm (control) bezafibrate and followed up for 16 weeks.Although food consumption increased in rats fed bezafibrate, increases in body weight were inhibited dose-dependently.Plasma levels of insulin,leptin,free fatty acids,and triglyceride decreased, although not significantly, in rats fed 10 mg/kg bezafibrate and decreased significantly in rats fed 100 mg/kg bezafibrate.Rats treated with bezafibrate showed significant decreases in body fat weight and triglyceride levels in liver,pancreas,and skeletal muscle.Expression of UCP-2 increased significantly in brown adipose tissue in the 10 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg groups and that of UCP-3 increased significantly in skeletal muscle in the 10 mg/kg group and in white adipose tissue in the 100 mg/kg group.We found that long-term bezafibrate treatment inhibited the progression of obesity in male Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty rats.Our results suggest that a decrease in the triglyceride content of skeletal muscle is involved in the mechanism by which bezafibrate decreases hyperinsulinemia and that increased expression of UCP-3 mRNA in skeletal muscle promotes energy expenditure and decreases accumulated triglyceride, thereby decreasing hyperinsulinemia.
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology (medical)
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W11197745