Objective  To investigate the effect and mechanism of curcumin analogue H8 on visceral fat metabolism in db/db mice (diabetes model).

  Methods  Totally 32 specific pathogen free 8-week db/db mice were randomly divided into a model group (with sodium carboxymethyl cellulose), a positive control group (with 5 mg/kg rosiglitone), and low and high dose (5, 10 mg/kg) curcumin H8 groups. The administrations were performed with gastric gavage once a day continuously for 8 weeks. At the end of the experiment, the body and visceral fat weight of the mice were weighed; the blood biochemical indexes were detected; the perirenal fat tissue was embedded in paraffin; the visceral fat cells were observed with hematoxylin eosin staining; and the expression level of F4/80 in visceral fat cells was detected with immunofluorescence. Real-time PCR was used to detect the expressions of lipid metabolism synthase (FAS), acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1), and sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP) mRNA; the protein expression of FAS, ACC1 and SREBP were detected by Western blot.

  Results  Compared with those in the model group, all indicators of visceral fat metabolism decreased significantly in the low and high dose curcumin H8 group (P < 0.01 for all); the indicators included visceral fat coefficient (3.20 ± 0.23% and 2.93 ± 0.75%), volume of visceral fat cells (304.7 ± 24.8 and 331.3 ± 18.0), F4/80 in visceral fat cells (0.39 ± 0.06 and 0.43 ± 0.04), FAS mRNA (217.0 ± 46.5 and 249.1 ± 31.4), ACC1mRNA (54.9 ± 5.4 and 50.4 ± 5.3), SREBP mRNA (14.2 ± 1.7 and 13.4 ± 1.5), FAS protein (0.69 ± 0.03 and 0.41 ± 0.06), ACC1 protein (0.11 ± 0.02 and 0.07 ± 0.01), and SREBP protein (0.36 ± 0.05 and 0.41 ± 0.06).

  Conclusion  Curcumin analog H8 can improve visceral fat metabolism in db/db mice.