Intermittent topical menthol treatment reduces white adipose tissue and leads to overweight loss in obese rats
Description
Obesity, recognized as a metabolic disease and a global epidemic, calls for novel pharmacological interventions. Menthol, an organic compound, has shown promise in increasing energy expenditure and has been proposed as a potential anti-obesity drug. While preclinical studies have demonstrated menthol's preventive effect on body mass gain, none have investigated its efficacy in treating obesity. In this study, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of menthol in obesity treatment. Obesity was induced in rats through a hypercaloric diet. Obese rats were subjected to intermittent topical treatment with 5% menthol, resulting in sustained hyperthermia indicative of increased thermogenesis and energy expenditure. Additionally, menthol led to a reduction in the area of white adipocytes as a result of weight loss in obese rats. Our findings suggest that menthol has the potential to enhance metabolism and may serve as a viable treatment option for obesity. These results highlight the physiological significance of menthol in modulating metabolic processes and its potential role in combating obesity-related metabolic disorders.
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Upon arrival in the colony, rats were allowed to acclimatize for 6 days and then, subject to the temperature-measuring device implantation and allowed to recover from surgery for 5 days. Rats receive a common or hypercaloric diet ad libitum and after 8 weeks, which was followed by inttermitent topical menthol (or its vehicle) treatment. During this period, rats remained in their respective diet (common or hypercaloric diet). On the day following the last treatment, rats were euthanized and blood and epididymal WAT were collect for glycemic and histological analysis, respectively. Body mass and food intake were measured throughout experiments twice a week, respectively, during the 8 weeks of diets or right before each topical treatment. Food intake per rat was measured as a daily average per cage since the rats were kept in their colony to prevent social isolation-induced stress. Tc was continuously recorded during the entire experiment.