Metabolic studies of a synthetic lipolytic domain (AOD9604) of human growth hormone.
Ng. F M FM; Sun. J J; Sharma. L L; Libinaka. R R; Jiang. W J WJ; Gianello. R R
Key Findings
- A 500 µg/kg daily oral dose of AOD9604 reduced body‑weight gain by >50% in obese Zucker rats over 19 days.
- Treated rats showed increased lipolytic (fat‑burning) activity in adipose tissue.
- Unlike full‑length growth hormone, AOD9604 did not impair insulin sensitivity as measured by euglycemic clamp.
Practical Outcomes
- For now, the peptide shows promise as an oral fat‑loss agent that might avoid the insulin‑related side effects of full growth hormone. However, because the data are limited to rats, biohackers should treat this as a preliminary signal and wait for human safety and dosing studies before trying it.
Summary
In a study with obese rats, an oral peptide called AOD9604 (a tiny piece of human growth hormone) cut weight gain by more than half over three weeks, boosted fat‑burning activity in fat tissue, and didn’t mess up the animals’ insulin sensitivity. The researchers think this could become a safe, pill‑type weight‑loss aid, but it’s still only tested in animals.
Abstract
A synthetic analogue (AOD9604) of the lipolytic domain of human growth hormone (hGH) has been studied for its metabolic actions in obese Zucker rats. Daily treatment with an oral dose of AOD9604 of 500 microg/kg body weight for 19 days reduced over 50% (15.8 +/- 0.6 vs. 35.6 +/- 0.8 g) body weight gain of the animals in comparison with the control. The adipose tissues of the AOD9604--treated animals were found to have an increase in lipolytic activity. In contrast to chronic treatment with intact hGH, chronic treatment with AOD9604 showed no adverse effect on insulin sensitivity of the animals, as demonstrated with euglycemic clamp techniques. The results in the present study suggest that the analogue of the hGH lipolytic domain may have the potential to be developed into an orally usable and safe therapeutic agent for obesity.
Study Information
pubmed
2000
2001-01-10T00:00:00.000Z
10.1159/000053183
28
28