Multi-Functional Roles of Chitosan as a Potential Protective Agent against Obesity

Abstract

Chitosan, a natural polysaccharide comprising copolymers of glucosamine and N-acetylglucosamine, has been shown to have anti-obesity properties. Two experiments (Exp. 1 and Exp. 2) were performed to determine the role of chitosan on dietary intake, body weight gain, and fat deposition in a pig model, as well as identifying potential mechanisms underlying the anti-obesity effect of chitosan. In Exp. 1, the nutrient digestibility experiment, 16 pigs (n = 4/treatment) were randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments as follows: 1) basal diet; 2) basal diet plus 300 ppm chitosan; 3) basal diet plus 600 ppm chitosan; 4) basal diet plus 1200 ppm chitosan. The main observation was that crude fat digestibility was lower in the 1200 ppm chitosan group when compared with the control group (P<0.05). In Exp. 2, a total of 80 pigs (n = 20/treatment) were offered identical dietary treatments to that offered to animals in Exp. 1. Blood samples were collected on day 0, day 35 and at the end of the experiment (day 57). Animals offered diets containing 1200 ppm chitosan had a lower daily dietary intake (P<0.001) and body weight gain (P<0.001) from day 35 to 57 when compared with all the other treatment groups. Animals offered diets containing 1200 ppm chitosan had a significantly lower final body weight (P<0.01) when compared with all the other treatment groups. The decreased dietary intake observed in the 1200 ppm chitosan group was associated with increased serum leptin concentrations (P<0.001) and a decrease in serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations (P<0.05). In conclusion, the results of this study highlight novel endocrine mechanisms involving the modulation of serum leptin and CRP concentrations by which chitosan exhibits anti-obesity properties in vivo.

Effects of chitosan supplementation on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and digestive enzyme activity in weaned pigs

“…This observation is supported by previous study (Walsh et al, 2013). To date the mechanism may be postulated as follows: firstly, chitosan might interrupt enterohepatic bile acid circulation.…”

“…Tang et al (2005) also reported that chitosan could improve the growth performance and feed efficiency of piglets. However, Razdan et al (1997) observed that dietary supplementation of 30 g/kg chitosan significantly reduced body weights and feed intakes of broiler chickens compared with those fed on control diets on days 5 and 11 of the experiment, and Walsh et al (2013) obtained similar results in pigs. As a possible explanation for these divergences the authors hypothesized that in different experiments different doses of chitosan had been used.…”

“…leptin, resistin, IL-6, and C-reactive protein, etc. ), which significantly suppress appetite, regulate energy metabolism, and prevent lipid accumulation in peripheral tissues (Unger, 2003a, b), and therefore chitosan can lower fat mass, regulate the level of circulating triglycerides, and reduce the accumulation of lipids both in the liver and in the muscle tissue (Neyrinck et al, 2009;Liu et al, 2012;Walsh et al, 2013). In this study, the reduction of fat digestibility might have a negligible effect on growth performance of weaned pigs, because pigs accumulate body fat beginning at 45 kg body weight (Tan et al, 2009).…”

Environmental Applications of Chitosan and Its Derivatives

“…Results from two pilot studies on shrimp-derived glucosamine supplements (Gray et al 2004) and a chitosan bandage (Waibel et al 2011) produced no evidence of allergic reaction in human subjects. Rather, chitosan has been a popular weight management supplement for animals and humans (Walsh et al 2013), which further suggests that chitosan is safe for environmental applications.…”

Effects of chitosan addition on growth performance, diarrhoea, anti-oxidative function and serum immune parameters of weaned piglets

“…Compared with other natural polysaccharides, a plethora of applications of this biopolymer have been found owing to its high biocompatible, biodegradable, and nontoxic nature (Jayakumar et al, 2010;Dash et al, 2011).As a natural cationic polysaccharide, CS contains reactive functional groups, that is, hydroxyl and amino groups. Numerous studies have demonstrated that CS has unique biological activities, which include anti-microbial (Zheng & Zhu, 2003), immunostimulatory (Zaharoff et al, 2007), anti-inflammatory (Villiers et al, 2009), anti-tumour (Qin et al, 2002), anti-hypertension (Park et al, 2009), hypocholesterolemic , anti-obesity (Walsh et al, 2013), and anti-oxidation (Kim & Thomas, 2007) properties. Notably, because of these properties, CS can be used as a pro-growth and health feed supplement for farm animals.…”