الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Obesity is a status of chronic energy imbalance associated with excess fat storage in adipose tissue. Browning of white adipose tissue has been and remains to be an active field of research due to its promising effect in treatment and prevention of metabolic disorders, due to the particular function of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in dissipating chemical energy in the form of non-shivering thermogenesis. Therefore, conversion of fat accumulating white adi¬pose tissue (WAT) into energy dissipating BAT may serve as an effective potential approach.
According to World Health Organization, the long historical use of many of ancient herbal medicine has verified the safety and efficacy of these medicines. However, such data need to be supported with experimental studies. Therefore, the present study evaluated the potential browning effect on inguinal WAT following supplementation of berberine by intraperitoneal injection for a period of four weeks. Berberine (BBR) at a dose of five and ten mg/kg bodyweight showed no signs of illness or mortality in both high fat and normal fed diet rat groups.
The present study was conducted on 48 male albino rats that were randomly divided into 2 groups: group I: Normally fed diet group: This group included 24 rats that were subdivided into 3 subgroups. They were all fed on standard rat chow.
Control group (subgroup Ia): Eight rats were subdivided into Subgroup Ia-1: four rats received no treatment, Subgroup Ia-2: four rats received phosphate buffered saline by intraperitoneal injection daily for four weeks.
Subgroup Ιb: Eight rats received berberine by intraperitoneal injection (5mg/kg body weight) daily for four weeks.
Subgroup Ιc: Eight rats received berberine by intraperitoneal injection (10mg/kg body weight) daily for four weeks.
group ΙI: High fat diet group: 24 rats were fed on high fat diet (HFD) for twelve weeks to induce obesity. They were subdivided into 3 subgroups after finishing the twelve weeks HFD regimen.
Subgroup IIa: Eight rats received no treatment.
Subgroup ΙΙb: Eight rats received berberine by intraperitoneal injection (5mg/kg body weight) daily for four weeks.
Subgroup ΙΙΙc: Eight rats received berberine by intraperitoneal injection (10mg/kg body weight) daily for four weeks.
At the end of the study, rats of all groups were anaesthetized and sacrificed 24 hours after the last administration of berberine.