Premium
Rapamycin as a Potential Treatment for Obesity
Author(s) -
Bruce Erin,
Sakarya Yasemin,
Matheny Michael,
Kirichenko Nataliya,
Toklu Hale,
Morgan Drake,
Tumer Nihal,
Carter Christy,
Scarpace Philip
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.818.6
Subject(s) - obesity , medicine
Obesity has been a rising pandemic leading to increased cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death in the world at present. There is a pressing need to improve the health outcomes of individuals suffering from obesity. Rapamycin treatment has reported to result in both positive and negative effects on metabolic syndrome. With an aim to maximize the beneficial aspects, we have investigated the potential therapeutic effects of a low and intermittent dose of rapamycin on diet‐induced obesity in six‐month‐old male Sprague Dawley rats. Rats were fed either standard chow diet (Chow) or 60% high fat diet (HF) for 14 weeks then randomly placed in four groups with n=6 as follows: Chow+vehicle; Chow+Rapamycin (Rapa) (1mg/kg); HF+vehicle; HF+Rapa. Rapamycin or vehicle was administered by ip injection Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 5 weeks. Rapamycin treatment significantly reduced body weight (14.43% in Chow vs. Chow+Rapa and 15.12% in HF vs. HF+Rapa) and kcal intake (21.03% in Chow vs. Chow+Rapa and 19.00% in HF vs. HF+Rapa). In the HF fed rats, this reduction in body weight coincided with a decrease in serum leptin levels (45.86%) and white adipose tissue weights (39.37%) measured at sacrifice. Rapamycin treatment also resulted in a decrease in fasting glucose levels in rats fed the HF diet. These results suggest rapamycin may be a potential pharmacological intervention for obese individuals.