Effects of caffeine, paracetamol and b-naphthoflavone on the lipid content and differentiation of human adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells in vitro

Abstract

Obesity is a complex multifactorial disorder involving the differentiation of pre-adipocytes to mature adipocytes which is achieved through the process of adipogenesis via interaction with different adipogenic transcription factors and mediators. Many drugs and their interactions has been implicated with the common feature of adipose tissue enlargement through hyperplasia and hypertrophy. Caffeine and Paracetamol are few of the most common used drugs which have been theorized by previous researches to have some influence on the adipogenic process. In our study, we investigated the effects of Caffeine, Paracetamol and β-Naphthoflavone on the differentiation of Human Adipose Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells (HAD-MSC). Cells were cultured in vitro using differentiation inducing media with and without the presence of different combinations of the drugs. Biochemical markers of adipogenesis were evaluated using biochemical assays for triglyceride and glycerol quantification. Our results show that there is an increase of glycerol and triglyceride concentration in cells treated with caffeine suggesting its anti-lipogenesis characteristics through the enhancement of the lipolytic process.Paracetamol also appears to have anti-adipogenic effects due to its apparent role in suppressing the accumulation of triglycerides. In addition, only the use of β-Naphthoflavone in combination with caffeine and Paracetamol, resulted in lower triglyceride concentrations than the latter two drugs alone which may indicate its possible enhancing anti-adipogenic properties is through its interaction with the other two drugs.