Antrodia cinnamomea Confers Obesity Resistance and Restores Intestinal Barrier Integrity in Leptin-deficient Obese Mice

Abstract

Obesity is associated with metabolic disorders. Thus, obesity prevention and treatment are essential for health. Antrodia cinnamomea (AC) is a multifunctional medicinal fungus used for the treatment of various diseases and for preventing diet-induced obesity. Leptin deficiency causes over-eating and spontaneous obesity. The concomitant metabolic symptoms are more severe than diet-induced obesity. Here, we used leptin-deficient (ob/ob) mice as an animal model for over-feeding to study the effect of AC on obesity. We fed C57BL/6 mice (WT, ob+/+) and ob/ob mice with AC for four weeks before performing qRT-PCR and immunoblot analysis to elaborate AC-modulated mechanisms. Further, we used Caco-2 cells as a human intestinal epithelial barrier model to examine the effect of AC on intestinal permeability. Our results suggested that AC reduces lipid deposits of the liver and epididymal white adipose tissue (EWAT) by promoting lipid metabolism and inhibiting lipogenesis-associated genes and proteins in ob/ob mice. Moreover, AC effectively repaired intestinal-barrier injury caused by leptin deficiency and enhanced intestinal barrier integrity in Caco-2 cells. Interestingly, AC significantly reduced body weight and EWAT with no compromise on food intake in ob/ob mice. Thus, AC effectively reduced obesity caused by leptin-deficiency and can potentially be used as a nutraceutical for treating obesity.

CREBRF p.Arg457Gln Promotes Obesity and Improves Insulin Sensitivity by Promoting Preadipocyte Differentiation and Reducing Oxidative Metabolism in Gene-modified Pig Models

“…All these phenotypes were resulted from normal diet chow, similar to the human population with the same genotype 19,[21][22][23] . The model is different from obesity linked to diabetes models, such as over-expressing fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) mice 44 , mice with genetic deletions of melanocortin 4 receptor(MC4R) 45 leptin-de cient mice 46 and zebra sh obesity models 47 , in which the obesity phenotype was primarily caused by increased appetite and food intake and decreased physical activity 48 . The CREBRF p.Arg457Gln pigs could store more fat without overeating.…”

Current and further outlook on the protective potential of Antrodia camphorata against neurological disorders

“…A previous study in the leptin-induced Caco-2 cells model found that AC had a positive effect on intestinal microflora by repairing intestinal-barrier damage and enhancing the integrity of the intestinal barrier ( Tsai et al, 2020 ). Another study in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice demonstrated that AC showed protective effects, maintained the intestinal barrier integrity, reduced the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and increased Akkermansia muciniphila level ( Chang et al, 2018 ).…”