New patch to turn energy-storing fats into energy-burning fats
Staff Writer |
A micro-needle patch delivers drugs that are known to turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat.
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This innovative approach developed by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), reduced weight gain in mice on a high-fat diet and their fat mass by more than 30 percent over four weeks.
The new type of skin patch contains hundreds of micro-needles, each thinner than a human hair, which are loaded with the drug Beta-3 adrenergic receptor agonist or another drug called thyroid hormone T3 triiodothyronine.
When the patch is pressed into the skin for about two minutes, these micro-needles become embedded in the skin and detach from the patch, which can then be removed.
As the needles degrade, the drug molecules then slowly diffuse to the energy-storing white fat underneath the skin layer, turning it into energy-burning brown fats.
Brown fats are found in babies, and they help to keep the baby warm by burning energy. As humans grow older, the amount of brown fats lessens and is replaced with visceral white fats.
Published in the journal Small Methods recently by NTU Professor Chen Peng and Assistant Professor Xu Chenjie, this approach could address the worldwide obesity problem without resorting to surgical operations or oral medication.
"With the embedded microneedles in the skin of the mice, the surrounding fats started browning in five days, which helped to increase the energy expenditure of the mice, leading to a reduction in body fat gain," said Asst Prof Xu, who focuses on research in drug delivery systems.
"The amount of drugs we used in the patch is much less than those used in oral medication or an injected dose. This lowers the drug ingredient costs while our slow-release design minimises its side effects," said Asst Prof Xu.
Obesity which results from an excessive accumulation of fat is a major health risk factor for various diseases, including heart disease, stroke and type-2 diabetes.
The World Health Organisation estimates that 1.9 billion adults in the world are overweight in 2016 with 650 million of them being obese. ■