Evidence mapPaperPMID 41896271Full record

ArticleScientific reports2026

Ramulus Mori (Sangzhi) alkaloids attenuate diet-induced obesity by modulating adipose tissue metabolic programs.

Ruining Zhang, Ge Peng, Xiaohui Pan, Nanwei Tong

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Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Ruining ZhangDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Laboratory for Diabetes and Metabolism Research, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Ge PengDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Laboratory for Diabetes and Metabolism Research, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Xiaohui PanDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Laboratory for Diabetes and Metabolism Research, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Nanwei TongDepartment of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Laboratory for Diabetes and Metabolism Research, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. tongnw@scu.edu.cn.

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China 82170830Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province Grant No. 2024NSFSC1620
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by excessive adipose accumulation and is closely associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic dysfunction associated steatotic liver disease. Enhancing adipose metabolic activity, including thermogenic- and oxidative-related metabolic programs, has emerged as a promising strategy to counteract obesity and its related metabolic complications. Ramulus Mori (Sangzhi) alkaloids (SZ-A), a natural alkaloid complex derived from Morus alba L. (mulberry twig), are clinically approved for T2DM treatment and exhibit multiple metabolic regulatory properties; however, their anti-obesity mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In this study, male C57BL/6 mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks to induce obesity and subsequently treated with SZ-A (200 or 600 mg/kg) for 6 weeks. SZ-A markedly attenuated HFD-induced body weight gain independent of food intake, improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, and alleviated dyslipidemia and hepatic steatosis. SZ-A also reduced the mass of multiple adipose depots and upregulated thermogenic regulators and beige adipocyte-associated markers in white adipose tissue (WAT). In brown adipose tissue (BAT), SZ-A partially restored HFD-impaired thermogenic features, accompanied by increased expression of uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). In vitro, SZ-A directly promoted the expression of genes associated with adipocyte browning-related transcriptional features at the transcriptional level in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes, supporting a cell-autonomous metabolic effect. Transcriptomic profiling of epididymal WAT (eWAT) revealed that SZ-A induced broad transcriptional remodeling, characterized by significant enrichment of fatty acid catabolism, β-oxidation, and lipid oxidative metabolism pathways, along with enrichment of brown adipocyte differentiation-related gene signatures. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that SZ-A exerts robust anti-obesity effects through coordinated regulation of adipose tissue metabolism, involving enhanced thermogenic-related molecular features in BAT and inguinal WAT (iWAT) and oxidative metabolic remodeling in visceral adipose tissue. Given its established clinical safety in T2DM, SZ-A represents a promising therapeutic candidate for adipose-based obesity and associated metabolic disorders.

Indexed as

Adipose TissueAlkaloidsMorusObesityAdipose Tissue, BrownAdipose Tissue, WhiteAnimalsDiet, High-FatFatty LiverInsulin ResistanceMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLThermogenesisUncoupling Protein 1AlkaloidsUncoupling Protein 13T3-L1 cellsAdipose tissueBrowningHFD-induced obese miceMetabolic regulationObesitySangzhi alkaloids

Identifiers

PMID41896271
PMCPMC13040038

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.