Figure 2.

Protective effects of empagliflozin in high-fat diet-induced obese mice. Inhibiting SGLT2 with empagliflozin directly decreases blood glucose levels, leading to the following: (1) Empagliflozin promotes fat utilization by enhancing AMPKα and ACC phosphorylation in skeletal muscle and increasing hepatic and plasma levels of FGF21. (2) Empagliflozin enhances browning and thermogenesis in WAT and BAT, which results in increased energy expenditure. (3) Empagliflozin improves insulin sensitivity by polarizing M2 macrophages in fat and liver.