Ultrasound Associated with Caffeine Increases Basal and Beta-Adrenoceptor Response in Adipocytes Isolated from Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue in Pigs.

Background: The topical use of caffeine has been indicated for the lipodystrophies treatment as it promotes increased lipolysis. Ultrasound (US) is often used in cutaneous diseases, esthetic conditions, and as a skin permeation enhancer. Objective: We investigate the lipolytic response of adipocytes isolated from subcutaneous adipose pigs tissue subjected to treatment with topical application of phonophoresis associated with caffeine. Method: We treated dorsal regions of pigs (Landrace × Large White, 35 days, 15 kg, n = 6) daily for 15 days with gel, gel + US [3 MHz, continuous, 0.2 Wcm2, 1 min/cm2, in total 2 min], gel + caffeine (5%w/w), and gel + caffeine + US. We used a fifth untreated region as control. Twenty-four hours after the last application, we isolated the adipocytes of each treated area and quantified the basal and stimulated lipolytic responses to isoprenaline. The results, in μmol glycerol/106cells/60 min, were analyzed with analysis of variance or ANOVA followed by Newman–Keuls test. The value of p < 0.05 was indicative of statistical difference. Results: Only the adipocytes isolated from the area treated with caffeine + US showed increased basal lipolysis (0.76 ± 0.26; p = 0.0276) and maximal isoprenaline stimulation (0.38 ± 0.15, p = 0.0029) compared with the other areas. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that increased lipolysis of caffeine + US is due to an increase in basal and beta-adrenoceptor response by caffeine, and caffeine's effect is local, avoiding unwanted effects.