Intraperitoneal administration of follistatin promotes adipocyte browning in high-fat diet-induced obese mice

With rapid economic development, the prevalence of obesity has increased remarkably worldwide. Obesity can induce a variety of metabolic diseases, such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, hypertension and coronary heart disease, which significantly endanger the health and welfare of individuals. Brown and beige fat tissues play an important role in thermogenesis in mammals. Recent studies have shown that follistatin (FST) can potentially induce the browning of white adipose tissue (WAT). In this study, high-fat diet-induced obese mice were injected with follistatin for one week to explore the effects of follistatin on browning and metabolism and to determine the mechanism. The results showed that follistatin suppressed obesity caused by a high-fat diet and increased insulin sensitivity, energy expenditure, and subcutaneous fat browning. The beneficial effects remained even after a period of withdrawal. Follistatin promoted secretion of irisin from subcutaneous fat via the AMPK-PGC1α-irisin signal pathway, which induces browning of WAT, and activated the insulin pathway in beige fat thereby promoting metabolism.