Effects of Lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) Supplementation on Hepatic Gene Expression in High-Fat Diet Fed Mice

Abstract

The prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is growing worldwide in association with Western-style diet and increasing obesity. Lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea L.) is rich in polyphenols and has been shown to attenuate adverse metabolic changes in obese liver. This paper investigated the effects of lingonberry supplementation on hepatic gene expression in high-fat diet induced obesity in a mouse model. C57BL/6N male mice were fed for six weeks with either a high-fat (HF) or low-fat (LF) diet (46% and 10% energy from fat, respectively) or HF diet supplemented with air-dried lingonberry powder (HF + LGB). HF diet induced a major phenotypic change in the liver, predominantly affecting genes involved in inflammation and in glucose and lipid metabolism. Lingonberry supplementation prevented the effect of HF diet on an array of genes (in total on 263 genes) associated particularly with lipid or glucose metabolic process (such as Mogat1, Plin4, Igfbp2), inflammatory/immune response or cell migration (such as Lcn2, Saa1, Saa2, Cxcl14, Gcp1, S100a10) and cell cycle regulation (such as Cdkn1a, Tubb2a, Tubb6). The present results suggest that lingonberry supplementation prevents HF diet-induced adverse changes in the liver that are known to predispose the development of NAFLD and its comorbidities. The findings encourage carrying out human intervention trials to confirm the results, with the aim of recommending the use of lingonberries as a part of healthy diet against obesity and its hepatic and metabolic comorbidities.

Lingonberry Improves Hepatic Lipid Metabolism by Targeting Notch1 Signaling

“…Our findings are in line with those of Kowalska et al, who reported that lingonberry extract downregulates the gene expression of DGAT1 and other genes in the mouse adipocytes [25]. Additionally, Ryyti et al observed that supplementation of HFD with dry Finnish lingonberry powder significantly reduced hepatic mRNA expression of monoacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 (MGAT1), the enzyme that synthesizes diacylglycerols from monoacylglycerol [50].…”

Sheng-Jiang powder ameliorates NAFLD via regulating intestinal microbiota in mice

“…Pparγ also plays an important role in regulating lipid metabolism, especially in lipid production gene expression and liver lipid synthesis induced by HFD ( Liu et al, 2019 ). Pparγ can improve insulin sensitivity, inhibit lipolysis of adipose tissue, reduce the release of free fatty acids from central adipose tissue, and prevent ectopic fat deposition in the liver and pancreas ( Ryyti et al, 2021 ). Excess energy induces abnormal Pparγ activation in liver and then promotes the occurrence of hepatic fat deposition.…”

TUBB2B facilitates progression of hepatocellular carcinoma by regulating cholesterol metabolism through targeting HNF4A/CYP27A1

“…In addition, several studies have demonstrated TUBBs have a capacity of regulating lipid metabolism. In mice fed a high-fat diet, the expression of TUBB2A and TUBB6 were significantly increased [ 26 ]. In humans, TUBB was reported to increase the risk of dyslipidemia and predict hypertension [ 27 ].…”