Study: Lose weight with patches that turn white fat into brown fat

Geschatte leestijd: 4 minutenResearchers from Singapore have developed patches that convert white fat cells, which store energy, into brown fat cells, which burn energy. The result is a 30% reduction in body fat in four weeks. In mice.

“Browning” of Fat Cells

Losing thirty percent of body fat in four weeks probably sounds like music to your ears. Especially right after New Year’s. If all you have to put on your resolutions list is ‘buy patches,’ that’s absolutely fantastic.

There has been significant scientific attention over the past decade on the distinction between brown fat, beige fat, and white fat. We have written about it extensively in various articles here, so I’ll just briefly recap here.

White adipose tissue (WAT) are the fat cells responsible for often undesirable amounts of body fat and high weight. Their role is to convert excess energy into a reserve fuel. Brown adipose tissue (BAT), on the other hand, has a very different role, focusing on regulating temperature when it drops. To raise temperature, they increase energy expenditure, releasing heat. This is a mechanism mainly utilized by babies who have more brown fat for protection. As we age, brown fat cells are replaced by white fat cells. Beige fat (or ‘brite’ as a combination of brown and white) are cells in white adipose tissue that behave like brown fat. This can happen under various circumstances, such as exposure to cold, but also through exercise.

Browning of fats (‘browning’), turning white fat cells into brown fat cells, is therefore a potential treatment for obesity. The question is, of course, how to initiate this process.

Body’s Own Fat Burners in Patch Form

There are endogenous substances that can achieve this effect in the form of medication. Tri-iodothyronine, triiodothyronine, or T3, is a thyroid hormone that research has shown can have a ‘browning’ effect on white fat cells [1,2,3]. T3 is used by some bodybuilders (along with T4), for example, leading up to a competition. However, as a medication for obesity, it has fallen out of favor due to potential side effects in the brain and heart, as well as muscle atrophy [4]. Attempts have been made to administer T3 in another form to protect these organs from these effects.

Another example of endogenous ‘browning’ agents are the β₃ adrenoceptors located in body fat, which, when activated, can increase fat burning [5]. As medication (agonists, substances that activate these receptors), these can also be effective against obesity, but unfortunately with some side effects (increased heart rate, shivering) [6].

Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have therefore developed patches that achieve the positive effect of these substances with a much lower dosage [7]. This would result in a much lower chance of side effects. They use patches with hundreds of microneedles, each thinner than a human hair. These needles contain medication targeting the β₃ adrenoceptors or T3 hormone. When the patch is held against the skin for two minutes, the needles are pressed into the skin and release the patch. The patch can then be removed. As the needles slowly degrade, the molecules of the substances gradually enter the white adipose tissue under the skin. This is where the browning of the fat cells begins. This occurs about 5 days after applying the patch.

In mice, this increased energy expenditure, inhibiting the increase in body fat and ultimately reversing it. In four weeks, the mice lost 30 percent of their body fat. The mice also had significantly lower cholesterol and lower levels of fatty acids in the blood than untreated mice.

The necessary dosage here is much lower than when taken orally or injected because the portion that breaks down before reaching its destination is much lower (if there is any breakdown at all). This greatly reduces the risk of side effects, partly due to delivering the medication to where it needs to work. Since the medication does not reach other parts of the body, as with oral intake and injections, it cannot cause harm elsewhere. Moreover, the lower dosage also means lower costs.

Another reason why this is a safer way to lose weight than surgical procedures or other medication is that it utilizes the body’s own fat cells to burn more. A natural process, according to the researchers, although starting this process unnaturally.

The researchers are now focusing on further developing painless, practical, effective, safe, and affordable patches for humans. The prototype currently has production costs of about $5.

References

1. Martínez-Sánchez N, Moreno-Navarrete JM, Contreras C, et al. Thyroid hormones induce browning of white fat. The Journal of Endocrinology. 2016;232(2):351-362. doi:10.1530/JOE-16-0425.
2. Thyroid hormone regulation of metabolism. Mullur R, Liu YY, Brent GA Physiol Rev. 2014 Apr; 94(2):355-82.
3. Adipose tissues and thyroid hormones. Obregon MJ Front Physiol. 2014; 5():479.
4. Clinical practice. Graves’ disease. Brent GA N Engl J Med. 2008 Jun 12; 358(24):2594-605.
5. Richard JE, López-Ferreras L, Chanclón B, Eerola K, Micallef P, Skibicka KP, Wernstedt Asterholm I. CNS β(3)-adrenergic receptor activation regulates feeding behavior, white fat browning, and body weight. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2017 Sep 1;313(3):E344-E358. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00418.2016. Epub 2017 Jun 6. PubMed PMID: 28588096.
6. Sawa M, Harada H. Recent developments in the design of orally bioavailable beta3-adrenergic receptor agonists. Curr Med Chem. 2006;13(1):25-37. Review. PubMed PMID: 16457637.
7. Aung Than, Ke Liang, Shaohai Xu, Lei Sun, Hongwei Duan, Fengna Xi, Chenjie Xu, Peng Chen. Transdermal Delivery of Anti-Obesity Compounds to Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue with Polymeric Microneedle Patches. Small Methods, 2017; 1 (11): 1700269 DOI: 10.1002/smtd.201700269