A functional leptin system is essential for sodium tungstate antiobesity action.

Abstract

Sodium tungstate is a novel agent in the treatment of obesity. In diet-induced obese rats, it is able to reduce body weight gain by increasing energy expenditure. This study evaluated the role of leptin, a key regulator of energy homeostasis, in the tungstate antiobesity effect. Leptin receptor-deficient Zucker fa/fa rats and leptin-deficient ob/ob mice were treated with tungstate. In lean animals, tungstate administration reduced body weight gain and food intake and increased energy expenditure. However, in animals with deficiencies in the leptin system, treatment did not modify these parameters. In ob/ob mice in which leptin deficiency was restored through adipose tissue transplantation, treatment restored the tungstate-induced body weight gain and food intake reduction as well as energy expenditure increase. Furthermore, in animals in which tungstate administration increased energy expenditure, changes in the expression of key genes involved in brown adipose tissue thermogenesis were detected. Finally, the gene expression of the hypothalamic neuropeptides, Npy, Agrp, and Cart, involved in the leptin regulation of energy homeostasis, was also modified by tungstate in a leptin-dependent manner. In summary, the results indicate that the effectiveness of tungstate in reducing body weight gain is completely dependent on a functional leptin system.

• Authors: Ignasi Canals, María C Carmona, Marta Amigó, Albert Barbera, Analía Bortolozzi, Francesc Artigas, Ramon Gomis
• Journal: Endocrinology (Endocrinology) Vol. 150 Issue 2 Pg. 642-50 (Feb 2009) ISSN: 1945-7170 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 18845634 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Anti-Obesity Agents
• Leptin
• Neuropeptides
• Tungsten Compounds
• sodium tungstate(VI)

Topics

• Adipose Tissue (metabolism, physiology, transplantation)
• Adipose Tissue, Brown (drug effects, metabolism)
• Adiposity (drug effects)
• Animals
• Anti-Obesity Agents (pharmacology, therapeutic use)
• Body Weight (drug effects, genetics)
• Energy Metabolism (drug effects, genetics)
• Gene Expression Profiling
• Leptin (genetics, metabolism, physiology)
• Male
• Mice
• Mice, Obese
• Neuropeptides (genetics, metabolism)
• Obesity (drug therapy, genetics, metabolism, physiopathology)
• Rats
• Rats, Zucker
• Thinness (metabolism)
• Tungsten Compounds (pharmacology, therapeutic use)