Research Article Antiobesity Effect of Codonopsis lanceolata in High-Calorie/High-Fat-Diet-Induced Obese Rats

Copyright © 2013 Hye-Kyung Choi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The antiobesity effects of Codonopsis lanceolata (CL) were evaluated in a high-calorie/high-fat-diet (HFD-) induced obesity rat model and 3T3-L1 cells.The Sprague-Dawleymale rats were fed a normal diet (ND) or a HFD for a period of 12 weeks.The rats were subdivided into groups: ND, ND + wild Codonopsis lanceolata (wCL) (900mg/kg/day, p.o.), ND + cultivated Codonopsis lanceolata (cCL) (900mg/kg/day, p.o.), HFD, HFD + wCL (100, 300, or 900mg/kg/day, p.o.), HFD + cCL (100, 300, or 900mg/kg/day, p.o.), and HFD + sibutramine. The body weight gains of the administered HFD + CL (wCL or CCL) were lower than those of the rats fed with only the HFD group. Moreover, the weight of adipose pads and the serum levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and low density lipoprotein cholesterol in the group administered HDL + CL were significantly lower than in the HFD group. The inhibitory effect of lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 cells was measured by Oil Red O staining and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Treatment of 3T3-L1 cells with wCL inhibited lipid accumulation and expression of C/EB