Pharmacology and Toxicology Research Center, Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, China.
State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China.
Mar Drugs. 2019 Jan 9;17(1):38. doi: 10.3390/md17010038.
Asperlin is a marine-derived, natural product with antifungal, anti-inflammatory and anti-atherosclerotic activities. In the present study, we showed that asperlin effectively prevented the development of obesity in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice. Oral administration of asperlin for 12 weeks significantly suppressed HFD-induced body weight gain and fat deposition without inhibiting food intake. Hyperlipidemia and liver steatosis were also substantially ameliorated. A respiratory metabolism monitor showed that asperlin efficiently increased energy expenditure and enhanced thermogenic gene expression in adipose tissue. Accordingly, asperlin-treated mice showed higher body temperature and were more tolerant of cold stress. Meanwhile, asperlin also increased the diversity and shifted the structure of gut microbiota. Oral administration of asperlin markedly increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, leading to a higher Bacteroidetes-to-Fimicutes ratio. The HFD-induced abnormalities at both phylum and genus levels were all remarkably recovered by asperlin. These results demonstrated that asperlin is effective in preventing HFD-induced obesity and modulating gut microbiota. Its anti-obesity properties may be attributed to its effect on promoting energy expenditure.
asperlin 是一种来源于海洋的天然产物，具有抗真菌、抗炎和抗动脉粥样硬化活性。在本研究中，我们表明 asperlin 可有效预防高脂肪饮食（HFD）喂养小鼠肥胖的发生。asperlin 口服给药 12 周可显著抑制 HFD 诱导的体重增加和脂肪沉积，而不抑制食物摄入。高脂血症和肝脂肪变性也得到了明显改善。呼吸代谢监测仪显示，asperlin 可有效增加能量消耗，并增强脂肪组织中的产热基因表达。因此，asperlin 处理的小鼠体温更高，对冷应激的耐受性更强。同时，asperlin 还增加了肠道微生物群的多样性并改变了其结构。asperlin 口服给药可显著增加拟杆菌门的相对丰度，导致拟杆菌门到厚壁菌门的比值升高。asperlin 可显著恢复 HFD 诱导的门和属水平的异常。这些结果表明，asperlin 可有效预防 HFD 诱导的肥胖，并调节肠道微生物群。其抗肥胖特性可能与其促进能量消耗的作用有关。
