Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, College of Life Science, CHA University, Seongnam, Kyonggi-do 13488, Korea.
Ginsentology Research Laboratory and Department of Physiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and BioMolecular Informatics Center, Konkuk University, Seoul 05030, Korea.
Biomolecules. 2020 Jul 15;10(7):1048. doi: 10.3390/biom10071048.
Obesity is a major health concern and is becoming an increasingly serious societal problem worldwide. The browning of white adipocytes has received considerable attention because of its potential protective effect against obesity-related metabolic disease. The gintonin-enriched fraction (GEF) is a non-saponin, glycolipoprotein component of ginseng that is known to have neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects. However, the anti-obesity and browning effects of GEF have not been explored to date. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether GEF has a preventive effect against obesity. We differentiated 3T3-L1 cells and mouse primary subcutaneous adipocytes for 8 days in the presence or absence of GEF, and then measured the expression of intermediates in signaling pathways that regulate triglyceride (TG) synthesis and browning by Western blotting and immunofluorescence analysis. We found that GEF reduced lipid accumulation by reducing the expression of pro-adipogenic and lipogenic factors, and increased lipolysis and thermogenesis, which may be mediated by an increase in the phosphorylation of protein kinase A. These findings suggest that GEF may induce fat metabolism and energy expenditure in white adipocytes and therefore may represent a potential treatment for obesity.
肥胖是一个主要的健康问题，也是全球范围内日益严重的社会问题。白色脂肪细胞的棕色化受到了相当多的关注，因为它可能对肥胖相关的代谢性疾病具有保护作用。高丽参苷元富集部分（GEF）是一种非皂甙、糖脂蛋白成分，已知具有神经保护和抗炎作用。然而，到目前为止，还没有研究 GEF 的抗肥胖和棕色化作用。因此，我们旨在确定 GEF 是否对肥胖具有预防作用。我们在存在或不存在 GEF 的情况下，将 3T3-L1 细胞和小鼠原代皮下脂肪细胞分化 8 天，然后通过 Western blot 和免疫荧光分析测量调节甘油三酯（TG）合成和棕色化的信号通路中间产物的表达。我们发现，GEF 通过减少前脂肪生成和脂肪生成因子的表达来减少脂肪堆积，并增加脂肪分解和产热，这可能是通过蛋白激酶 A 的磷酸化增加来介导的。这些发现表明，GEF 可能诱导白色脂肪细胞中的脂肪代谢和能量消耗，因此可能代表肥胖的一种潜在治疗方法。
