Research and Development Division, Toyo Shinyaku Co. Ltd., 7-28 Yayoigaoka, Tosu-shi, Saga 841-0005, Japan.
Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012:272710. doi: 10.1155/2012/272710. Epub 2012 May 27.
Kudzu, a leguminous plant, has long been used in folk medicine. In particular, its flowers are used in Japanese and Chinese folk medicine for treating hangovers. We focused on the flower of Kudzu (Puerariae thomsonii), and we previously reported the antiobesity effect of Puerariae thomsonii flower extract (PFE) in humans. In this study, we conducted an animal study to investigate the effect of PFE on visceral fat and hepatic lipid levels in mice with diet-induced obesity. In addition, we focused on gene expression profiles to investigate the antiobesity mechanism of PFE. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) or an HFD supplemented with 5% PFE for 14 days. PFE supplementation significantly reduced body weight and white adipose tissue (WAT) weight. Moreover, in the histological analysis, PFE supplementation improved fatty liver. Hepatic reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction revealed that PFE supplementation downregulated acetyl-CoA carboxylase expression. For adipose tissue, the expressions of hormone-sensitive lipase in WAT and uncoupling protein 1 in brown adipose tissue (BAT) were significantly upregulated. These results suggest that PFE exerts antiobesity and antifatty liver effects in high-fat diet-induced obese mice through suppressing lipogenesis in the liver, stimulating lipolysis in WAT, and promoting thermogenesis in BAT.
野葛，一种豆科植物，长期以来一直被应用于民间医学。特别是，它的花朵被用于日本和中国民间医学来治疗宿醉。我们专注于野葛（Puerariae thomsonii）的花朵，我们之前曾报道过野葛花提取物（PFE）在人体中的抗肥胖作用。在这项研究中，我们进行了一项动物研究，以调查 PFE 对饮食诱导肥胖的小鼠内脏脂肪和肝脂质水平的影响。此外，我们还关注基因表达谱，以研究 PFE 的抗肥胖机制。雄性 C57BL/6J 小鼠喂食高脂肪饮食（HFD）或补充 5% PFE 的 HFD 14 天。PFE 补充显著降低了体重和白色脂肪组织（WAT）的重量。此外，在组织学分析中，PFE 补充改善了脂肪肝。肝逆转录-聚合酶链反应显示，PFE 补充下调了乙酰辅酶 A 羧化酶的表达。对于脂肪组织，WAT 中的激素敏感脂肪酶和棕色脂肪组织（BAT）中的解偶联蛋白 1 的表达显著上调。这些结果表明，PFE 通过抑制肝脏中的脂肪生成、刺激 WAT 中的脂肪分解以及促进 BAT 中的产热来发挥抗肥胖和抗脂肪肝作用。
