Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods, College of Food Science, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Food Funct. 2019 Jun 19;10(6):3237-3251. doi: 10.1039/c9fo00254e.
Momordica saponins have diverse biological activities and are widely used to improve obesity. Here, we investigated the alleviation of fat accumulation and mechanism of action of the saponin-enriched ethanol extract from Momordica charantia (MSE) in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). First, MSE had a strong fat-reduction capacity in normal and high-fat worms. Second, MSE significantly increased the proportion of small lipid droplets and reduced the average particle size in ZXW618. Meanwhile, it improved lifespan and healthspan and physiological functions, such as age pigmentation and neuroprotection. Furthermore, MSE mediated fat reduction gets involved neither in energy intake nor in energy expenditure. Finally, MSE might down-regulate sbp-1 and nhr-49 via mdt-15, and up regulate age-1 via daf-2. And these targets genes together down-regulated the expression of fat-5, fat-6 and fat-7 to decrease fat accumulation. Our results provided new insights into the inhibition of fat accumulation and underlying mechanisms of Momordica saponins in C. elegans, which might be developed into a nutraceutical to ameliorate obesity.
苦瓜皂苷具有多种生物活性，被广泛用于改善肥胖。在这里，我们研究了苦瓜（Momordica charantia）皂苷富集乙醇提取物（MSE）在秀丽隐杆线虫（C. elegans）中对脂肪积累的缓解作用及其作用机制。首先，MSE 在正常和高脂肪线虫中具有很强的减脂能力。其次，MSE 显著增加了 ZXW618 中小脂滴的比例并减小了平均粒径。同时，它还改善了寿命和健康寿命以及生理功能，如年龄色素和神经保护。此外，MSE 介导的脂肪减少既不涉及能量摄入，也不涉及能量消耗。最后，MSE 可能通过 mdt-15 下调 sbp-1 和 nhr-49，并通过 daf-2 上调 age-1。这些靶基因共同下调 fat-5、fat-6 和 fat-7 的表达，从而减少脂肪积累。我们的研究结果为苦瓜皂苷在 C. elegans 中抑制脂肪积累及其潜在机制提供了新的见解，这可能被开发成一种营养保健品来改善肥胖。
