Salinomycin, a polyether ionophoric antibiotic, inhibits adipogenesis.

The polyether ionophoric antibiotics including monensin, salinomycin, and narasin, are widely used in veterinary medicine and as food additives and growth promoters in animal husbandry including poultry farming. Their effects on human health, however, are not fully understood. Recent studies showed that salinomycin is a cancer stem cell inhibitor.

Prieurianin Causes Weight Loss in Diet-Induced Obese Mice and Inhibits Adipogenesis in Cultured Preadipocytes.

The global increase in the incidence of obesity has emerged as one of the most serious public health risks in recent years. Despite the enormity of the obesity pandemic, there are currently only two FDA-approved therapies for its treatment and these drugs exhibit modest efficacy and have limiting side effects. Prieurianin is a plant limonoid product that deters feeding in insect larvae.

The obesity-associated Fto gene is a transcriptional coactivator.

The fat mass and obesity associated, FTO, gene has been shown to be associated with obesity in human in several genome-wide association scans. In vitro studies suggest that Fto may function as a single-stranded DNA demethylase. In addition, homologous recombination-targeted knockout of Fto in mice resulted in growth retardation, loss of white adipose tissue, and increase energy metabolism and systemic sympathetic activation.