Adipose depot-specific effects of 16 weeks of pioglitazone on in vivo adipogenesis in women with obesity: a randomised controlled trial

Several human studies show positive signals, while research methods and sample sizes continue to develop.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Aims/hypothesis In vitro and rodent studies suggest that pioglitazone, a thiazolidinedione, can promote adipogenesis in adipose tissue (AT); however, there is a lack of in vivo studies in humans to support these findings. The objectives of this randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm trial were to test if pioglitazone stimulates in vivo adipogenesis in the subcutaneous adipose tissue depots and if these measures were related to metabolic health outcomes in women with obesity. Methods Forty-one healthy women with obesity (20 black; 21 white; 29 ± 6 years; BMI 32.0 ± 1.7 kg/m 2 ; 44.0 ± 3.6% body fat) were randomised to consume 30 mg/day of pioglitazone (n = 21) or placebo (n = 20) for 16 weeks. SAS v9.4 was used to generate the block randomisation code sequence (stored in password-protected files) with a 1:1 allocation ratio. The participants and study staff involved in assessing and analysing data outcomes were blinded to the group assignments. The trial was conducted at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and ended in 2016. At baseline and post-intervention, subcutaneous abdominal (scABD) and femoral (scFEM) AT biopsies were collected, and in vivo cellular kinetics (primary endpoint of the trial) were assessed by an 8 week labelling protocol of deuterium ( 2 H) into the DNA of adipose cells. Body composition was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), scABD

Evidence level

Several human studies show positive signals, while research methods and sample sizes continue to develop.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.