Effects of the use of human chorionic gonadotrophin on the metabolic profile of wistar rats

The modifications in the lifestyle have led to the increase in the number of overweight and obesity worldwide. Many are the medications, supplements or other products that promise a fast and easy weight loss and the use of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) is becoming very popular with this purpose. For these reasons, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of HCG on the metabolic profile, or Wistar rats fed a hypercaloric diet. Twenty male Wistar rats were treated with a hypercaloric diet and water ad libitum for four weeks. After this period, the animals were divided in, G1 that was treated with hypercaloric diet and water ad libitum for more four weeks; and G2, that was treated with hypercaloric diet water ad libitum for more four weeks and received 0.01mL of HCG (intraperitoneal route) for five consecutive days. Evaluation of body weight, visceral fat, glycemia, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), Very Low-Density Lipoprotein (VLDL-c), High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL-c) (mg/dL), and atherogenic indices were performed. Our results showed that there was lower weight gain among the animals that received the HCG when compared to the control. However, no changes were observed in the food intake, lipid and glycemic profile of these animals. We may conclude that, although our results show some beneficial effects of HCG on the percentage of weight gain in the animals, no other favorable effects were observed. We suggest caution in the use of this medication because of the possible development of adverse effects.