TY - JOUR T1 - Artemisinin mimics nitric oxide to reduce adipose weight by targeting mitochondrial complexes JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/157396 SP - 157396 AU - Qian Gao AU - Jiang He AU - Tao Liao AU - Yan-Ping Chen AU - Li-Li Tan AU - Ji-Da Zhang AU - Chang-Qing Li AU - Qing Zeng AU - Qi Wang AU - Shui-Qing Huang AU - Xin-An Huang AU - Qin Xu AU - Qing-Ping Zeng Y1 - 2017/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/06/29/157396.abstract N2 - It remains obscure how to medically manage visceral obesity that predisposes metabolic disorders. Here, we show for the first time that a trace amount of artemisinin (0.25 mg/kg) reduces adipose weight in an inflammatory obese mouse model induced by a high-fat diet with lipopolysaccharide (HFD+LPS). HFD+LPS trigger pro-inflammatory responses, upregulate NOS2 expression, elicit potent nitric oxide (NO) burst, and reinforce adipose mitochondrial dysfunctions that facilitate adipogenesis for visceral weight gain. By targeting mitochondrial complexes, artemisinin resembles the NO donor nitroglycerin to exert anti-inflammatory effects, downregulate NOS2 expression, maintain stable NO release, and augment adipose mitochondrial functions that necessitate adipolysis for visceral weight loss. Taken together, artemisinin plays adipose weight-reducing roles by rectifying inflammation-driven mitochondrial dysfunctions. ER -