This study was performed to investigate the effects of garlic on uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) transcriptional regulation of UCP2- luciferase transgenic mice fed on a high fat diet to induce obesity. To examine the transcriptional regulation of UCP2, we generated transgenic mice with a UCP2 promoter (-1,830/+30 bp) containing luciferase as a reporter gene. UCP2-luciferase transgenic mice were fed a 45% high-fat diet for 8 weeks to induce obesity. Subsequently, mice were maintained on either a high-fat control diet (TG-CON), or high-fat diets supplemented with 2% (TG-GL2) or 5% (TG-GL5) garlic for a further 8 weeks. Dietary garlic reduced body weight and energy efficiency ratio in the TG-GL5 group, compared to the TG-CON group. Furthermore, garlic supplementation significantly decreased white adipose tissue fat mass and plasma levels of triglycerides, total cholesterol, and leptin in the TG-GL2 and TG-GL5 groups, compared to the TG-CON group. Specifically, UCP2 promoter activity in metabolic tissues such as liver, white adipose tissue, brown adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle was increased by garlic supplementation. These results suggest that dietary garlic was partially associated with an increase of UCP2 transcriptional activity in metabolic tissues for decreasing obesity.

• 이막순(이화여자대학교 식품영양학과) | Mak-Soon Lee (Dept. of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea)
• 이서현(이화여자대학교 식품영양학과) | Seohyun Lee (Dept. of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea)
• 신윤진(이화여자대학교 식품영양학과) | Yoonjin Shin (Dept. of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea)
• 정선윤(이화여자대학교 식품영양학과) | Sunyoon Jung (Dept. of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea)
• 박선영(이화여자대학교 식품영양학과) | Seonyoung Park (Dept. of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea)
• 김양하(이화여자대학교 식품영양학과) | Yangha Kim (Dept. of Nutritional Science and Food Management, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760, Korea) Corresponding author