Punicalagin and Ketogenic Amino Acids Loaded Organic Lipid Carriers Enhance the Bioavailability, Mitochondrial β-Oxidation, and Ketogenesis in Maturing Adipocytes

Pandurangan Subash-Babu; Nouf Al-Numair; Tahani Almuzaini; Jegan Athinarayanan; Ali Abdullah Alshatwi

doi:10.3390/nano12030368

Punicalagin and Ketogenic Amino Acids Loaded Organic Lipid Carriers Enhance the Bioavailability, Mitochondrial β-Oxidation, and Ketogenesis in Maturing Adipocytes

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Jan 24;12(3):368. doi: 10.3390/nano12030368.

Authors

Pandurangan Subash-Babu¹, Nouf Al-Numair^{2

3}, Tahani Almuzaini¹, Jegan Athinarayanan¹, Ali Abdullah Alshatwi¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
² Center for Genomic Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
³ College of Medicine, Alfaisal University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

The identification of lipolytic bioactive compounds via the functional stimulation of carbohydrate response element-binding protein-1 (CREBp-1) and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is most warranted. Nano lipid carriers (NLCs) are currently being considered within drug delivery development as they facilitate controlled drug release and have intracellular bioavailability after encapsulating the active principles with lipid matrix. The present study has been designed to synthesize punicalagin, and ketogenic amino acids (KAA) loaded with organic lipid carriers to optimize the liposome-assisted intracellular delivery's bioavailability. Punicalagin (PUNI) and KAA (tryptophan, methionine, threonine, lysine, and leucine) were encapsulated with chia seed phospholipids by homogenization, emulsification, and cold ultra-sonication method to obtain nano lipid carriers (NLC). The physicochemical characterization of NLCs has been carried out using Zetasizer, FT-IR, and TEM analysis. Punicalagin and ketogenic amino acid-loaded NLCs (NLC-PUNI-KAA) were identified with an average diameter of 240 to 800 nm. The biosafety of NLC-PUNI-KAA has been evaluated in human mesenchymal stem cells. PI staining confirmed that a 0.4, 0.8 or 1.6μg/dL dose of NLC-PUNI-KAA potentially maintains nuclear integration. NLC-PUNI-KAA treated with maturing adipocytes decreased lipid accumulation and significantly increased the gene expression levels of fatty acid beta-oxidation (PPARγC1α, UCP-1 and PRDM-16) pathways when compared to free PUNI (5 μg/dL) treatment. The lipolytic potential has been confirmed by the functional activation of AMPK and CREBp-1 protein levels. In conclusion, NLC-PUNI-KAA treatment effectively increased mitochondrial efficiency more than free punicalagin or orlistat treated maturing adipocyte. Enhanced lipolysis and decreased hypertrophic adipocyte resulted in decreased adipokine secretion, which has been associated with the suppression of obesity-associated comorbidities and vascular cell inflammation. The bioefficacy and lipolytic potential of water-soluble punicalagin have been improved after functional modification into NLCs.

Keywords: NLCs; chia seed; fatty acid oxidation; ketogenesis; mitochondrial; punicalagin.

Grants and funding

RSP-2020/178/The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Research Supporting Project number (RSP-2020/178), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.