Journal
NUTRIENTS
Volume 11, Issue 12, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/nu11123035
Keywords
Semen cuscutae (SC); arginase inhibitor; nitric oxide (NO); hepatic steatosis; obesity; peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)
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Funding
- National Research Foundation (NRF) - Ministry of Science ICT [2016R1D1A1B03930394, 2019R1F1A1054111, NRF-2012M3A9C4048761]
- National Research Foundation of Korea [2019R1F1A1054111] Funding Source: Korea Institute of Science & Technology Information (KISTI), National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS)
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Since arginase has been shown to compete with nitric oxide (NO) synthase, emerging evidence has reported that arginase inhibition improves obesity by increasing NO production. Semen cuscutae (SC), which is a well-known Chinese medicine, has multiple biological functions such as anti-oxidant function and immune regulation. In this study, we investigated whether the SC as a natural arginase inhibitor influences hepatic lipid abnormalities and whole-body adiposity in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice. The lipid accumulation was significantly reduced by SC treatment in oleic acid -induced hepatic steatosis in vitro. Additionally, SC supplementation substantially lowered HFD-induced increases in arginase activity and weights of liver and visceral fat tissue, while increasing hepatic NO. Furthermore, elevated mRNA expressions of sterol regulatory element-binding transcription factor 1 (SREBP-1c), fatty-acid synthase (FAS), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma)1, and PPAR-gamma 2 in HFD-fed mice were significantly attenuated by SC supplementation. Taken together, SC, as a novel natural arginase inhibitor, showed anti -obesity properties by modulating hepatic arginase and NO production and metabolic pathways related to hepatic triglyceride (TG) metabolism.
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