Berberine in Combination With Ginseng to Counteract Obesity using Caenorhabditis elegans as an In-vivo Model

Obesity is a leading issue in the United States, affecting almost half of the population. In 2024 alone, it was found that 123 million people nationwide were categorized as obese, and this number continues to rise (Miller et al., 2024). Obesity is often associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which is why it can be so deadly. GLP-1 medications and Bariatric surgery are the most common treatment methods for obesity. However, they continue to grow in cost, as insurance companies are not covering them, and they can also have many side effects/complications. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to determine if Berberine combined with Ginseng could serve as an alternative medication for obesity, because it is low cost and minimally invasive. The obesity was modeled by giving C. elegans a high-glucose diet. Then, berberine, ginseng, and a combined solution of the two substances were created. This was also added to the C. elegans diet. Pictures of the C. elegans were taken using MicroCapture Plus and a MacBook. Finally, the area of the C. elegans (mm²) was measured by changing the tolerance and then using the measurement tool on ImageJ. Based on the results, it was found that the combined solution did reduce the area of the C. elegans more than the substances given individually. Therefore, the proposed solution is a viable alternative medication for obesity; however, results should be interpreted with caution, as the number of trials per group varied.