Anti-adipogenic effects of the traditional herbal formula Dohongsamul-tang in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

BACKGROUND: Blood stasis syndrome (BSS) is a general pattern identification and refers to pathological stagnation of blood circulation, dysfunction of endothelial cells or metabolic disorder in traditional Korean medicine (TKM). Dohongsamul-Tang (DHSMT) is a well-known traditional herbal formula which used for treatment and prevention of BSS by promoting blood circulation in TKM. METHODS: Cytotoxicity of DHSMT was examined by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8). We also investigated the anti-adipogenesis effect of DHSMT by using Oil Red O staining, intracellular triglyceride assay leptin ELISA and western blot analysis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In addition, the accumulation of adiponectin, resistin and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) were measured by magnetic bead panel kit. RESULTS: Oil Red O staining showed that DHSMT markedly reduced fat accumulation without affecting cell cytotoxicity. DHSMT also significantly decreased accumulation of triglyceride and adipokines such as leptin, adiponectin, resistin and PAI-1 compared with fully differentiated adipocytes. Furthermore, our results found that DHSMT significantly suppressed the adipocyte differentiation by downregulating adipogenic-specific transcriptional factors such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins alpha (C/EBPα) and fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) in adipocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings provide that DHSMT has potential for treatment and prevention of obesity or MS related to BSS.