Effects of flavangenol on autonomic nerve activities and dietary body weight gain in rats

Abstract

In a previous report, evidence was presented that flavangenol supplementation has an anti-ischemic effects in rats. In the study presented here, we examined the autonomic effects of intraduodenal (ID) injection of flavangenol in urethane-anesthetized rats and found that it increased sympathetic nerve activity innervating brown adipose tissue (BAT-SNA) in a dose-dependent manner, while it suppressed gastric vagal nerve activity (GVNA). In addition, intra-oral (IO) injection of flavangenol elevated brown adipose tissue temperature (BAT-T). Furthermore, flavangenol drinking for 15d reduced body weight gain in rats fed a high-fat diet. These results thus suggest that flavangenol supplementation exerts its reducing action on body weight through changes in autonomic neurotransmission.