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ABSTRACT: This study investigated the anti-obesity effects of fucoxanthin in diet-induced obesity mice fed a high-fat diet (20% fat, wt/wt). The mice were supplemented with two doses of fucoxanthin (0.05 and 0.2%, wt/wt) for 6 wk. Fucoxanthin significantly lowered body weight and visceral fat-pads weights compared with the control group without altering food intake. In epididymal adipose tissue of fucoxanthin-fed mice, adipocyte sizes and mRNA expression of lipogenic and fatty acid beta-oxidation enzymes were significantly altered in a dose-dependent manner. Plasma leptin level was significantly lower in the fucoxanthin groups than in the control group, while the adiponectin level was elevated. Fucoxanthin significantly down-regulated various lipogenic enzyme activities in epididymal adipose tissue with a simultaneous decrease in fatty acid beta-oxidation activity. The 0.2% fucoxanthin supplement led to increase mRNA expression of uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1) and UCP-3 in brown adipose tissue and that of UCP-2 in the epididymal white adipose tissue. However, the 0.05% fucoxanthin only elevated UCP-1 mRNA expression in epididymal white adipose tissue. These results suggest that the anti-obesity effect of fucoxanthin could be mediated by altering lipid-regulating enzymes and UCPs in the visceral fat tissues and plasma adipokine levels.
Molecular Nutrition & Food Research 10/2009; 53(12):1603-11. · 4.30 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Pinitol, a methylated form of D-chiro-inositol, acts as a insulin mediator. We investigated the effects of soy pinitol on the factors involved in foam cell formation using differentiated THP-1 macrophages. Pinitol slightly inhibited the lipid-laden foam cell formation by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in a dose-dependent manner. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 releases were significantly reduced by pinitol treatment (0.05-0.5 mM), whereas interleukin-1beta and interleukin-8 secretions were significantly reduced in low-dose pinitol (0.05 or 0.1 mM) and 0.5 mM pinitol-treated cells, respectively, compared to no pinitol-treated cells. Gene expressions of CD36 and CD68 were significantly down-regulated by 0.05-0.5 mM pinitol compared to the oxLDL-treated control cells. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 gene expression was significantly decreased in 0.05-0.5 mM pinitol-treated cells compared to the no pinitol-treated macrophages. We conclude that pinitol has some inhibitory effects on foam cell formation by reducing lipid accumulation, secretion, and expression of some cytokines and macrophage scavenger receptor expression via its insulin-like action.
Journal of Medicinal Food 01/2008; 10(4):594-601. · 1.41 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Changes in the expression level of the skeletal muscle LIM protein 1 (SLIM1) in cultured A10 cells were monitored in response to 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC), an oxidized form of cholesterol present in the oxidized low-density lipoproteins. The level of SLIM1 mRNA was elevated in a time- and concentration-dependent manner by treatment of 25-HC. Expressions of smooth muscle (SM) alpha-actin and calponin-1 (CNN-1), early markers for SMC differentiation, were also increased by the 25-HC treatments. Expressions of all three genes (SLIM1, SM alpha-actin and CNN-1) were simultaneously elevated in the cells treated with 9-cis retinoic acid (RA). On the other hand, the SLIM1 expression induced by the 25-HC or 9-cis RA (as well as SM alpha-actin and CNN-1) was decreased by the treatment of 15d-PGJ2. Since the 25-HC, 9-cis RA and 15d-PGJ2 were ligands for the LXR, RXRalpha and PPARgamma respectively, there might be a functional positive cross-talk between LXR and RXRalpha pathways and a negative cross-talk between PPARgamma and LXR and/or RXRalpha pathways in the regulation of SLIM1 expression. The cells stably transfected with the expressional vector for SLIM1 also showed an elevation in the levels of SM alpha-actin and CNN-1. In addition, an over-production of SLIM1 in the cells resulted in a change in the cell-shape into a spindle-like form, which is identical to that observed after a prolonged treatment of the cells with cholesterol.
Life Sciences 02/2007; 80(5):460-7. · 2.53 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Flavonoids have been identified as the antidiabetic components in a number of traditional ethnic remedies. However, the mechanisms whereby these compounds exert their hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic action in type-2 diabetes have rarely been investigated. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of the flavonoids hesperidin and naringin on glucose and lipid regulation in C57BL/KsJ-db/db mice. Hesperidin and naringin both significantly increased the glucokinase mRNA level, while naringin also lowered the mRNA expression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and glucose-6-phosphatase in the liver. In addition, the hepatic glucose transporter 2 protein expression was significantly reduced, while the expression of adipocyte glucose transporter 4 and hepatic and adipocyte peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma were elevated in the hesperidin and naringin groups when compared with the control group. Furthermore, hesperidin and naringin effectively lowered the plasma free fatty acid and plasma and hepatic triglyceride levels, and simultaneously reduced the hepatic fatty acid oxidation and carnitine palmitoyl transferase activity. These changes were seemingly attributable to a suppression of the hepatic fatty acid synthase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activities and an increase in the fecal triglycerides. The two flavonoids also led to a decrease in the plasma and hepatic cholesterol levels that may have been partly due to the decreased hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme (HMG-CoA) reductase and acyl CoA: cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) activities and increased fecal cholesterol. Consequently, the current results suggest that hesperidin and naringin are beneficial for improving hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia in type-2 diabetic animals by partly regulating the fatty acid and cholesterol metabolism and affecting the gene expression of glucose-regulating enzymes.
The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology 02/2006; 38(7):1134-45. · 4.63 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Genes induced or suppressed by oxidized low-density lipoproteins (oxLDL) in human monocytic THP-1 cells were searched using the differential display reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. One of the differentially expressed (up-regulated) cDNA fragments was found to contain sequences corresponding to monocyte chemotactic protein-3 (MCP-3). The stimulatory effect of the oxLDL on the expression of MCP-3 mRNA was both time- and dose-dependent. Treatment with GF109203X and genistein, inhibitors of protein kinase C and tyrosine kinase, respectively, had no effect on the induction of MCP-3 mRNA by oxLDL, while treatment with cycloheximide inhibited the induction. The induction was reproduced by the lipid components in oxLDL such as 9-HODE and 13-HODE, which are known to activate the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARgamma). Introduction of an endogenous PPARgamma ligand, 15d-PGJ2, in the culture of THP-1 cells resulted in the induction of MCP-3 gene expression. Furthermore, analyses of human atherosclerotic plaques revealed that the expressional pattern of MCP-3 in the regions of neointimal and necrotic core overlapped with that of PPARgamma. These results suggest that oxLDL delivers its signal for MCP-3 expression via PPARgamma, which may be further related to the atherogenesis.
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 11/2004; 323(3):898-905. · 2.48 Impact Factor
