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Thyroid hormone receptor beta-specific agonist GC-1 increases energy expenditure and prevents fat-mass accumulation in rats.

Villicev CM, Freitas FR, Aoki MS, Taffarel C, Scanlan TS, Moriscot AS, Ribeiro MO, Bianco AC, Gouveia CH

Department of Anatomy, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Prof Lineu Prestes, 2415 Sao Paulo 05508-900, Brazil.

It is well known that thyroid hormone affects body composition; however, the effect of the thyroid hormone receptor beta (TRbeta)-selective thyromimetic GC-1 on this biological feature had not been demonstrated. In the current study, we compared the effects of a 6-week treatment with triiodothyronine (T3; daily injections of 3 or 6 microg/100 g body weight) or GC-1 (equimolar doses) on different metabolic parameters in adult female rats. Whereas all animals gained weight (17-25 g) in a way not basically affected by T3 or GC-1 treatment, only T3 treatment selectively increased food intake (50-70%). Oxygen consumption was significantly and equally increased (50-70%) by T3 and GC-1. Analysis of body composition by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) revealed that, whereas control animals gained about 80% of fat mass, T3- or GC-1-treated animals lost 70-90 and approximately 20% respectively. Direct analysis of the carcass showed that T3 treatment promoted a 14-74% decrease in fat content but GC-1 treatment promoted only a 15-23% reduction. The gain in lean mass by DEXA and the carcass protein content were not affected by T3 or GC-1 treatment. However, the mass of individual skeletal muscles was negatively affected by T3 but only barely by GC-1. These findings highlight the potential use of GC-1 for the treatment of obesity and the metabolic syndrome.

Published 2 April 2007 in J Endocrinol, 193(1): 21-9.
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