Anti-fat effect and mechanism of polysaccharide-enriched extract fromCyclocarya paliurus(Batal.) Iljinskaja inCaenorhabditis elegans

Obesity is a global epidemic. Recent studies have shown thatCyclocarya paliurus(C. paliurus) leaves have the potential to alleviate fat deposits. However, the fat-reducing mechanism of it remains unclear. UsingCaenorhabditis elegans(C. elegans) as a model, we found thatC. paliuruspolysaccharide (CPP) significantly decreased fat storage in both normal and high-fat worms without affecting the movement. Moreover, the size and number of lipid droplets were reduced in CPP-treated ZXW618 worms. In energy metabolism, CPP decreasedEscherichia coli(E. coli) OP50 growth and pharyngeal pumping and increased the expression ofvit-2. In lipid metabolism, CPP down-regulated the expression of thesbp-1andnhr-49genes by modulatingmdt-15to prevent the expression of the Delta 9-desaturase genes (fat-5,fat-6andfat-7). Meanwhile, the expression of theacs-2genes, the downstream ofnhr-49, was suppressed by CPP. These findings provided insights into the CPP-induced anti-fat mechanisms, which contributed to the application of CPP in anti-obesity drugs.