Tadalafil reduces visceral adipose tissue accumulation by promoting preadipocytes differentiation towards a metabolically healthy phenotype: Studies in rabbits

Development of metabolically healthy adipocytes within dysfunctional adipose tissue may represent an attractive way to counteract metabolic syndrome (MetS). In an experimental animal model of high fat diet (HFD)-induced MetS, in vivo, long- and short-term tadalafil treatments were able to reduce visceral adipose tissue (VAT) accumulation and hypertriglyceridemia, and to induce the expression in VAT of the brown fat-specific marker, uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1). VAT preadipocytes (PAD), isolated from the tadalafil-treated HFD rabbits, showed: i) a multilocular morphology; ii) an increased expression of brown fat-specific genes (such as UCP1 and CIDEA); iii) improved mitochondrial structure and dynamic and reduced superoxide production; iv) improved insulin sensitivity. Similar effects were obtained after in vitro tadalafil treatment in HFD rPAD. In conclusion, tadalafil counteracted HFD-associated VAT alterations, by restoring insulin-sensitivity and prompting preadipocytes differentiation towards a metabolically healthy phenotype.