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Rubus chingii var. suavissimus alleviates high-fat diet-induced lipid metabolism disorder via modulation of the PPARs/SREBP pathway in Syrian golden hamsters

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Abstract

While the underlying mechanism remains unknown, Rubus chingii var. suavissimus (S. K. Lee) L. T. Lu or Rubus suavissimus S. Lee (RS), a sweet plant distributed in southwest of China, has been used as beverage and folk medicine. Pharmacological studies indicated the potential of RS improving the obesity phenotype and hyperlipidemia. The mechanism is still not yet to be put forward. To verify the substantial effects of RS on lipid metabolism, a Syrian golden hamster model was adopted. The physiological and pathological evaluation of experimental animals demonstrated that RS can relieve the lipid metabolism disorder induced by high-fat diet and alleviated liver injury. RS upregulation the expressions of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα), PPARγ and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α (C/EBPα), as well as adipocyte-specific genes, glucose transporter 4 (Glut4), lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and fatty acid binding protein 4 (aP2). On the other side, RS suppressed the sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP1) and downstream acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1), stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) and fatty acid synthase (FAS). In conclusion, RS alleviated lipid metabolism disorder symptoms caused by high-fat diet accompanied with 8 weeks of treatment, involving enhanced β-oxidation, increased adipogenesis and decreased the metabolism of fatty acids, via modulation of the PPARs/SREBP pathway in Syrian golden hamsters.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31660095 and 81903918), Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2019JJA140644), First-class discipline of Chinese materia medica in Guangxi (2019XK117), Graduate Education Innovation Program Project (YCSZ2020011 and YCSZ20190028) from Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Zhuang and Yao Ethnic Medicine (2014No.32).

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  1. Man-Jing Jiang and Li Li have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy, Guangxi University of Chinese Medicine, No. 13, Wuhe Avenue, Qingxiu District, Nanning, 530200, Guangxi, China

    Man-Jing Jiang, Li Li, Wan-Fang Huang, Jian Su, Yao-Hua Li & Lan-Lan Fan

  2. National Engineering Laboratory of Southwest Endangered Medicinal Resources Development, Guangxi Botanical Garden of Medicinal Plants,, No. 189, Changgang Road, Xingning District, Nanning, 530023, Guangxi, China

    Xiao-Sheng Qu

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11418_2021_1536_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. S1 RS improved body weight, food intake, energy intake as well as serum biochemical parameters and hepatic lipids of golden hamsters on a high-fat diet. (a) Body weight, (b) Food intake, (c) Energy intake. (TIF 195 KB)

11418_2021_1536_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. S2 Effects of RS on relative protein expressions measured by Western blot in golden hamsters. (a–j) PPARα, PPARγ, C/EBPα, aP2, Glut4, LPL, SREBP1, ACC1, FAS, and SCD1 by real-time PCR, β-actin was used as a loading control. Data are presented as means ± SD, n=3. * P <0.05, ** P <0.01 compared to HFD group; #P<0.05, ## P <0.01 compared to ND group. (TIF 351 KB)

Supplementary Table S1. UPLC-Q/TOF-MS data in negative mode of identified components from RS (DOCX 18 KB)

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Jiang, MJ., Li, L., Huang, WF. et al. Rubus chingii var. suavissimus alleviates high-fat diet-induced lipid metabolism disorder via modulation of the PPARs/SREBP pathway in Syrian golden hamsters. J Nat Med 75, 884–892 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11418-021-01536-8

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