Study On The Mechanism Of MiR-193B Mediated Reduction Of Body Weight In Stat5NKO Obese Mice

Objective:To evaluate the effect of electro-acupuncture on weight loss in Stat5NKO mice and the correlation with miR-193b.Methods:Stat5fl/fl and Staf5fl/fl;Nestin-cre (Stat5NK0) male mice of 3-4 weeks old age were selected and all the mice were fed standard ordinary diet. The mice with 20% greater body weight than the Stattfl/fl mice were selected as Stat5NKO group. Both Sta5fl/fl and Stat5NKO mice were then randomly divided into control group and acupuncture group (Stat5fl/fl+EA; Stat5NKO+EA). The EA mice were fixed in aproper position and treated with electro-acupuncture at "Zusanli" and "Neiting" acupoints, and the control mice were restricted but received no acupuncture treatment. Body weight and amount of food intake of the mice were recorded weekly. Intraperitoneal glucose tolerance trial (IGTT) was performed before and after the treatment. At the end of acupuncture treatment, leptin, insulin, triglycerides, cholesterol and low density lipoprotein were measured from serum of the mice. HE-staining was used for morphology of adipose tissue. miR-193b expression in different tissues and UCP1 expression in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue were detected by qPCR.Results:EA reduced the body weight of the obese mice and WAT/body weight ratio significantly (P< 0.05). The glucose tolerance and cold resistance were improved in the EA group, their blood lipid and biochemical indexes were recovered compared to the untreated mice. HE staining showed that the volume of epididymal fat cells decreased in EA group but not in the control mice. qPCR experiments confirmed that the expression of miR-193b was decreased in peripheral tissues of Stat5NKO+EA group, while was increased in the brain tissues. EA promoted the expression of UCP1 in Epi-WAT.Conclusion:EA can reduce body weight of Stat5NKO obese mice; miR-193b was most abundant in brown adipose tissue of mice. EA can regulate the expression of miR-193b in tissues, this may be one of the mechanisms by which acupuncture reduces body weight, though its mechanism is not well known from the current study.