Germacrone Attenuates Hyperlipidemia and Improves Lipid Metabolism in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese C57BL/6J Mice

Abstract

We previously showed that Aster spathulifolius Maxim extract (ASE) reduced body weight gain and serum and liver lipid levels and significantly suppressed serum insulin and leptin concentrations in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese rats. Germacrone (GM) was identified as a potent bioactive constituent of ASE. In this study, we hypothesized that GM can attenuate hyperlipidemia by alleviating fatty acid (FA) synthesis/uptake and improve lipid metabolism by stimulating FA β-oxidation in HFD-induced obese C57BL/6J mice. To induce obesity, mice were fed an HFD for 6 weeks, while control mice were fed a commercial standard diet. The mice were allocated to six groups and fed either a normal diet, HFD, HFD with GM (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg), or HFD with 200 mg/kg Garcinia cambogia extract for 30 days. In the GM groups, body weight gain, visceral fat pad weight, fasting plasma glucose, serum insulin and leptin, and serum, as well as hepatic lipid, levels were attenuated. Transcriptional factors related to lipid metabolism, such as AMP-activated protein kinase α, sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP) 1, SREBP 2, acetyl-CoA carboxylase, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α, PPAR-γ, FA synthase, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1, showed higher expression in the GM groups. In summary, GM may help attenuate hyperlipidemia by suppressing FA synthesis and uptake by inhibiting SREBP signaling pathway activation and improve lipid metabolism by stimulating FA β-oxidation by activating the AMPKα signaling pathway in HFD-induced obesity.

Melatonin reprogramming of gut microbiota improves lipid dysmetabolism in high‐fat diet‐fed mice

“…To determine the effect of melatonin on HF diet‐fed mice, body weight, liver, and subcutaneous adipose tissue were weighed (Figure A‐D). As expected, HF diet significantly increased the body weight ( P < 0.05) and relative weight of subcutaneous adipose tissue to body weight in mice ( P < 0.001) . Melatonin treatment tended to alleviate HF‐induced weight gain, but the difference was insignificant ( P > 0.05).…”

Polygonatum odoratum Polysaccharides Modulate Gut Microbiota and Mitigate Experimentally Induced Obesity in Rats

“…Our findings are supported by previous studies demonstrating that Rhizoma Polygonati Odorati extracts from the root of P. odoratum upregulate PPARγ expression and downregulate FABP4 expression in the adipocyte tissues of HFD-fed obese rats [ 19 ]. In contrast, other studies have shown that HFD feeding increases Pparg expression, whereas resveratrol and germacrone decrease Pparg mRNA expression compared with that in HFD-fed mice [ 54 , 55 ]. These inconsistent results may be partially due to differences in treatment conditions, diet ingredients, experimental duration, and species.…”

Causes and solutions to “globesity”: The new fa(s)t alarming global epidemic

“…The observed hypoglycemic and antioxidant effects contributed to the regulation of the lipid profile and adipokines, by favoring the reduction of the inflammation in adipose tissue and weight gain (da Costa et al, 2017). The sesquiterpene germacrone (20 mg/kg/day) was the active molecule of Garcinia cambogia extract, which at concentration of 200 mg/kg/day attenuated hyperlipidemia by alleviating fatty acid synthesis/uptake and improve lipid metabolism by stimulation of FA β-oxidation (Guo and Choung, 2017). Another moleculearctiinisolated form A. lapa was considered to be responsible for the weight loss in HFD-induced obese mice by reducing the mass of the WAT and inhibition of adipogenesis, through activation of liver kinase B1 (LKB1), which is constitutively active and phosphorylates AMPK (Han et al, 2016).…”