Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomic and Lipidomic Analyses of the Effects of Dietary Platycodon grandiflorum on Liver and Serum of Obese Mice under a High-Fat Diet

Abstract

We aimed to identify metabolites involved in the anti-obesity effects of Platycodon grandiflorum (PG) in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice using mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomic techniques. C57BL/6J mice were divided into four groups: normal diet (ND)-fed mice, HFD-fed mice, HFD with 1% PG extract-fed mice (HPGL), and HFD with 5% PG extract-fed mice (HPGH). After 8 weeks, the HFD group gained more weight than the ND group, while dietary 5% PG extract attenuated this change. The partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) score plots showed a clear distinction between experimental groups in serum and liver markers. We also identified 10 and 32 metabolites in the serum and liver, respectively, as potential biomarkers that could explain the effect of high-dose PG added to HFD-fed mice, which were strongly involved in amino acid metabolism (glycine, serine, threonine, methionine, glutamate, phenylalanine, ornithine, lysine, and tyrosine), TCA cycle (fumarate and succinate), lipid metabolism (linoleic and oleic acid methyl esters, oleamide, and cholesterol), purine/pyrimidine metabolism (uracil and hypoxanthine), carbohydrate metabolism (maltose), and glycerophospholipid metabolism (phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylethanolamines, lysophosphatidylcholines, and lysophosphatidylethanolamines). We suggest that further studies on these metabolites could help us gain a better understanding of both HFD-induced obesity and the effects of PG.

Untargeted and Targeted Metabolomics Reveal the Underlying Mechanism of Aspirin Eugenol Ester Ameliorating Rat Hyperlipidemia via Inhibiting FXR to Induce CYP7A1

“…Liver is the major organ involved in amino acid metabolism and largely responsible for maintaining amino acid homeostasis. Compared with the control, the amino acid levels were significantly reduced in hamster, which matched the other reports that amino acid levels had dropped by half in the liver of obese mice after 12 weeks of HFD feeding ( Park et al, 2017 ). Importantly, amino acid levels were increased through AEE treatment, indicating AEE might normalize abnormal amino acid metabolisms generated by HFD.…”

Aspirin eugenol ester regulates cecal contents metabolomic profile and microbiota in an animal model of hyperlipidemia

“…Uridine and hypoxanthine are pyrimidine and purine derivatives, respectively. Several recent publications have demonstrated that hypoxanthine and uridine could be significantly reduced in the liver of the obese mice under HFD [44], and the hypoxanthine in the feces was also decreased by the microfloral population reduction [45]. Consistent with the above results, levels of uridine and hypoxanthine were lower in the model group than those in the control, indicating that HFD intake could lead the suppression of purine metabolism and pyrimidine metabolism, or the reduction of gut microbiota.…”

Long Term Egg Yolk Consumption Alters Lipid Metabolism and Attenuates Hyperlipidemia in Mice Fed a High‐Fat Diet Based on Lipidomics Analysis

“…Besides, some biomarkers such as TG(16:0/16:0/22:6), TG(16:0/18:1/22:6), and TG(18:0/16:0/18:1) were also decreased in HFD + EY. A study recently investigated on the effects of dietary platycodon grandiflorum on the liver and serum of hyperlipemia mice and found hepatic lysoPEs with C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 decreased under HFD . This result suggested that the decrease in lysoPE should be accelerated by the formation of both HFD‐induced obesity and pathogenesis of hyperlipidemia.…”