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eCAM Advance Access published online on November 14, 2007
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nem153
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© 2007 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A Kampo Medicine, Boi-ogi-to, Inhibits Obesity in Ovariectomized Rats

Jun-ichi Yamakawa1, Junji Moriya1, Takashi Takahashi1, Atsushi Ishige2, Yoshiharu Motoo3, Fumihiko Yoshizaki4 and Tsugiyasu Kanda1

1Department of General Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, 2Department of Kampo Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, 3Department of Medical Oncology, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa and 4Department of Pharmacognosy, Tohoku Pharmaceutical University, Miyagi, Japan

In women facing menopause, end of menstrual activity is accompanied by lower levels of estrogen and gradual weight gain. Postmenopausal weight gain sounds an alarm for women's health and may lead to hyperlipidemia, a lipid increase and glucose intolerance. These phenomena are connected to lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension, type II diabetes mellitus, arteriosclerosis and metabolic syndrome, making it essential to prevent weight gain in women. A Kampo medicine, Boi-ogi-to, is traditionally used to treat obese conditions, but the mechanism has not yet been investigated. In this experiment, we tested the antiobesity properties of Boi-ogi-to in ovariectomized rats by measuring changes of serum cytokine levels and adipocytokines in fat cells. After treatment with this extract for 6 weeks (20-week-old rats), we found that there was a significant weight decrease in rats treated with Boi-ogi-to as compared with that in the control group. Serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-{alpha} levels increased significantly in a dose-dependent manner. Gene expression of adipose tissue in uterus also dose dependently showed a significant increase of TNF-{alpha} levels, suggesting that secretion of TNF-{alpha} by fat cells might play a role in the ability of Boi-ogi-to to inhibit weight gain. While peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor-{gamma} and adiponectin levels did not show a significant difference as compared with those in the control, levels of mRNA expression showed a tendency to increase dose dependently. Resistin did not show any significant change. These results suggest that Boi-ogi-to might be useful for the prevention of obesity that occurs in women with reduction of estrogen.

Keywords: Adipocytokines – Boi-ogi-to – obesity – ovariectomized rats

For reprints and all correspondence: Jun-ichi Yamakawa, MD, Department of General Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, 1-1 Daigaku, Uchinada-machi, Kahoku-gun, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan. Tel: +81-76-286-2211(ext. 3843); Fax: +81-76-286-2702; E-mail: yamakawa{at}kanazawa-med.ac.jp

Received March 19, 2007; accepted August 16, 2007


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