• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.579-590
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• 2016

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the impact of Ephedra sinica pharmacopuncture on the weight and lipid metabolism of obese mice.Methods: Obesity was induced in male C57BL/6 mice by a 60% fat diet. The animals were divided into three groups (n=5) fed a normal diet, high-fat diet, and high-fat diet with Ephedra sinica pharmacopuncture. After 13 wk, fasting blood sugar levels were measured in each group, and oral glucose tolerance tests were conducted. After 15 wk, body weight, epididymal fat pad weight, subcutaneous fat pad weight, and serum lipid and gene expression of hormone sensitive lipase (HSL), adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), monoacylglycerol lipase (MGL), perilipin, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ were measured in each group.Results: In the Ephedra group, body weight, fasting blood sugar, and oral glucose tolerance were significantly decreased. In addition, in the Ephedra group, the gene expression of HSL was significantly increased, whereas that of perilipin was significantly decreased.Conclusions: These results provide evidence that E. sinicapharmacopuncture affects obesity and obesity-induced metabolic syndrome, including insulin resistance and dyslipidemia, by activating lipolysis via the HSL pathway in adipose tissue.