Obesity is a risk factor for numerous metabolic diseases. Recently, naturally occurring compounds that may improve obesity have received increasing attention. Xanthigen is a mixture of fucoxanthin and punicic acid derived from brown seaweed and pomegranate seed, respectively, which have been traditionally used for lipid-lowering effects in humans. In this study, we investigated whether Xanthigen attenuates high-fat diet-induced obesity in C57BL/6N mice. The mice were fed on a normal diet (ND), high-fat diet (HFD), HFD plus 1% Xanthigen or HFD plus 1% green tea extract (GTE) for 11 weeks. Food efficiency ratio (FER) and body weight were significantly reduced in mice fed HFD plus Xanthigen compared to HFD-fed mice. Consistent with the results in body weight change, Xanthigen also significantly decreased the weights of epididymal adipose tissue, retroperitoneal adipose tissue, and liver in HFD plus 1% Xanthigen-fed mice. The serum level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol was significantly decreased in HFD plus Xanthigen-fed mice compared to HFD-fed mice. These results suggest that Xanthigen may be useful in the development of a functional health food for anti-obesity.
Traditional Korean fermented herbal plants are potential sources of new food that promote health, but they are still produced by yeast, fungi or bacteria fermentation. In the present work, mushroom (Paecilomyces tenuipes and Cordyceps militaris) fungal dongchunghacho were used to fermented Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer (licorice) or mixed with pupa. The pupa were tested as solid substrates for the production of corcycepin, liquiritin, and liquiritigenin. The fermented substrates were analyzed the content of cordycepin, liquiritin, liquiritigenin, and glycirrhizin productivity and inhibitory activity of NO. The cordycepin content of 70% EtOH extract from the fermented mixture of licorice and 50% pupa with C. militaris increased maximum at 33 times. Pupa was very excellent for the production of cordycepin. The liquiritin content was decreased in all the assays inoculated with P. tenuipes and C. militaris dongchunghachos. The liquiritigenin content was higher when fermented with P. tenuipes than C. militaris. The addition of pupa significantly reduced the liquiritin content and glycyrrhizin production. As a result, the liquiritigenin content increased in fermented P. tenuipes and C. militaris, and liquiritin and glycyrrhizin decreased. The inhibition of NO production in the different ethanolic extracts fermented with licorice and pupa was also significantly increased and higher than that of a nonfermented extract in higher polar solvent extracts. The contents of cordycepin and biological active compounds were altered in accordance with the concentration of pupa and fungi. This study provides basic data for use in developing dongchunghacho fungi as a functional food resource.
Fructus Sophorae, the dried ripe fruit of Styphnolobium japonicum (L.), is an herbal ingredient used in traditional Oriental medicine. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Fructus Sophorae extracts (FSE) on immune modulation in a murine RAW 264.7 macrophage model. As immune response parameters, the production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and tumor necrotic factor-α (TNF-α) were evaluated. Our data revealed that FSE increased the macrophage activation and the production of PGE2 and TNF-α, which was consistently correlated with upregulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and TNF-α expression at both transcriptional and translational levels. On comparative cytokine protein array, FSE significantly increased several cytokines, which was associated with phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p38 MAPK and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and Akt in RAW 264.7 cells. However, each inhibitor of these molecules attenuated the FSE-induced PGE2 production. These results indicate that FSE activated macrophages through the activation of MAPKs and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathways in RAW 264.7 macrophages. These findings suggest that FSE may provide a promising source of an immunoenhancing agent.
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