2. Academic Validation
  3. Berberine ameliorates obesity by inducing GDF15 secretion by brown adipocytes

Berberine ameliorates obesity by inducing GDF15 secretion by brown adipocytes

  • Endocrinology. 2023 Feb 24;bqad035. doi: 10.1210/endocr/bqad035.
Chang Li 1,  Qingyang Leng 1,  Lihua Li 1,  Fan Hu 2,  Yuejie Xu 2,  Sa Gong 3,  Ying Yang 2,  Hongli Zhang 1,  Xiaohua Li 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Endocrinology, Seventh People's Hospital of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
  • 2 Shanghai Clinical Center for Diabetes, Shanghai Key Clinical Center for Metabolic Disease, Shanghai Diabetes Institute, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Diabetes Mellitus, Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
  • 3 Shanghai Songjiang District Fangta Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China.
PMID: 36825874 DOI: 10.1210/endocr/bqad035
Abstract

Berberine (BBR), which is a compound derived from the Chinese medicinal plant Coptis chinensis, promotes weight loss, but the molecular mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we show that BBR increases the serum level of Growth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15), which is a stress response cytokine that can reduce food intake and lower body weight in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. The body weight and food intake of DIO mice were decreased after BBR treatment, and the weight change was negatively correlated with the serum GDF15 level. Further studies show that BBR induced GDF15 mRNA expression and secretion in the brown adipose tissue (BAT) of DIO mice and primary mouse brown adipocytes. In addition, we found that BBR upregulates GDF15 mRNA expression and secretion by activating the integrated stress response (ISR) in primary mouse brown adipocytes. Overall, our findings show that BBR lowers body weight by inducing GDF15 secretion via the activation of the ISR in BAT.

Keywords

Berberine; Brown adipocytes; GDF15; Integrated Stress Response; Obesity.

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