Obesity increases the risk of mortality and morbidity because it results in
hypertension,
heart disease, and
type 2 diabetes. Therefore, there is an urgent need for pharmacotherapeutic drugs to treat
obesity. We performed a screening assay using natural products with anti-adipogenic properties in 3T3-L1 cells and determined that
tschimganidine, a
terpenoid from the Umbelliferae family, inhibited adipogenesis. To evaluate the anti-
obesity effects of
tschimganidine in vivo. Mice were fed either a normal chow diet (
NFD) or a high-fat chow diet (HFD) with or without
tschimganidine for 12 weeks. Treatment with
tschimganidine decreased
lipid accumulation and adipogenesis, accompanied by reduced expression of adipogenesis and
lipid accumulation-related factors.
Tschimganidine significantly increased the phosphorylation of
AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and decreased that of AKT. Depletion of AMPK relieved the reduction in
lipid accumulation resulting from
tschimganidine treatment. Moreover,
tschimganidine administration drastically reduced the weight and size of both gonadal white adipose tissue (WAT) and
blood glucose levels in high-fat diet-induced obese mice. We suggest that
tschimganidine is a potent
antiobesity agent, which impedes adipogenesis and improves
glucose homeostasis.
Tschimganidine can then be evaluated for clinical application as a therapeutic agent. [BMB Reports 2023; 56(4): 246-251].