Nuciferine suppresses adipogenesis and mitochondrial function in brown adipocytes

Driven by chronic energy imbalance, obesity and related metabolic disorders have emerged as a global health challenge. The recruitment and activation of thermogenic adipocytes dissipate excess energy, thereby offering a promising therapeutic strategy. Nuciferine (NF), a natural alkaloid isolated from lotus leaves, has been reported to exert diverse beneficial effects on metabolic homeostasis, including reducing overall adiposity and activating non-shivering thermogenesis. However, its specific bioactivities and regulatory mechanisms within adipose tissue are not fully elucidated. Here, using immortalized brown preadipocytes and primary beige adipocytes, we demonstrate that NF unexpectedly suppresses adipogenesis and thermogenesis. Prolonged NF treatment during cell differentiation inhibited both general and brown fat-specific adipogenic programs, while transient exposure to NF impaired mitochondrial respiration and thermogenic function in mature brown adipocytes. Short-term local injection of NF into the interscapular brown adipose tissue and inguinal white adipose tissue diminished cold tolerance and thermogenic gene expression in mice. Mechanistically, NF acts as an antagonist of the β1-adrenergic receptor (ADRB1), and its effects were abolished by genetic ablation or pharmacological inhibition of ADRB1. These results uncover a cell/tissue-autonomous inhibitory role of NF in adipogenesis, mitochondrial respiration, and thermogenesis, further suggesting that its systemic metabolic benefits may rely on inter-organ crosstalk.