Prednisone may treat obesity in rat experiment

Scientists from Northwestern University in Chicago in the United States this year a study with prednisoneA synthetic glucocorticoid widely used as an anti-inflammatory agent applied against various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, muscular dystrophy and asthma.

By injecting the drug into mice, the scientists investigated some of the substance’s known side effects, including weight gain. Based on previous research showing that shorter glucocorticoid pulses improve athletic performance, researchers administered weekly doses of steroid hormone for a month.in male and female rodents.

Surprisingly, weekly prednisone promoted the absorption of nutrients in the muscles. As a result, obese mice fed a high-fat diet improved exercise endurance, became stronger, increased lean body mass and lost weight.

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What is the effect of prednisone study in mice?

“These results are that we intermittently ‘pulse’ the animals with prednisone once a week,” said Elizabeth McNally, director of the Center for Genetic Medicine at Northwestern School of Medicine, the study’s senior author. steroid has the opposite effect herethat is, it promotes the absorption of nutrients in muscle and “could be an approach to obesity treatment”.

Encouraged by laboratory animal studies, McNally theorizes, “If these same pathways apply to humans, then once-weekly prednisone could benefit obesity management.” What’s exciting for Mattia Quattrocelli, another author of the study, is knowing that a simple change in frequency changes the substance from triggering obesity to preventing obesity.

now the question is whether the treatment would work in humans Mice have been shown to have slow-twitch muscles that are quite different from fibrous, fast-twitch muscles. Therefore, more studies will be needed to better understand how prednisone works in human muscles.

ARTICLE Journal of Clinical Research – DOI: 10.1172/JCI149828.