Probiotic dark tea (PDT) is a novel kind of dark tea produced by fresh albino tea leaves and fermented with specific probiotics. Our study demonstrates that PDT can ameliorate high-fat diet-induced overweight and lipid metabolic disorders and shows no acute or subacute toxicity in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. Daily intragastric administration of 5% PDT infusion for 14 days caused no obvious effect on general physiological features and behaviors of rats. Oral administration of 1%, 2%, and 3% of PDT infusion for six weeks had no influence on the biochemistry and histopathology of rats’ organs and blood, as well as the body weight and ratios of organ/body weight. To investigate its anti-obesity activity, SD rats were randomly divided into four groups, treated with normal diet + water (Group I), high-fat diet + water (Group II), high-fat diet + 3% traditional dark tea infusion (Group III), high-fat diet + 3% PDT infusion (Group IV). After six weeks, the body weight, serum total triacylglycerol (TG) and serum total cholesterol (TC) levels of rats in Group II were significantly increased and the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) levels were significantly decreased compared with those in the other three groups. Both traditional dark tea and PDT treatment effectively counteracted the adverse effect of a high-fat diet in SD rats. These results suggest that PDT could be applied for the prevention of obesity, which ameliorates overweight and lipid metabolic disorders and which shows no acute or subacute toxicity.
Zearalenone (ZEA) is a non-steroidal estrogen mycotoxin produced by several Gibberella and Fusarium species. Accumulating evidence has indicated that ZEA strongly stimulates cell proliferation. However the detailed molecular and cellular mechanisms of ZEA-mediated induction of cell proliferation have not yet been completely explained. The aim of this study was to detect the role of miRNAs in ZEA-mediated induction of cell proliferation. The effects of ZEA on cell proliferation were assessed using a cell counting kit assay and xCELLigence system. Micro-RNA sequencing was performed after treatment of TM3 cells with ZEA (0.01 μmol/L) for different time periods (0, 2, 6 and 18 h). Cell function and pathway analysis of the miRNA target genes were performed by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA). We found that ZEA promotes TM3 cell proliferation at low concentrations. miRNA sequenceing revealed 66 differentially expressed miRNAs in ZEA-treated cells in comparison to the untreated control ( p < 0.05). The miRNA sequencing indicated that compared to control group, there were 66 miRNAs significant change (p < 0.05) in ZEA-treated groups. IPA analysis showed that the predicated miRNAs target gene involved in cell Bio-functions including cell cycle, growth and proliferation, and in signaling pathways including MAPK and RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK pathways. Results from flow cytometry and Western Blot analysis validated the predictions that ZEA can affect cell cycle, and the MAPK signaling pathway. Taking these together, the cell proliferation induced ZEA is regulated by miRNAs. The results shed light on the molecular and cellular mechanisms for the mediation of ZEA to induce proliferation.
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