The increasing prevalence of obesity continues to gain more attention worldwide. In this study, diet-induced obese mice were used to evaluate the antiobesity effects of extracts, fractions, and purified compounds from Vitis thunbergii var. taiwaniana (VTT). The C57BL/6J mice were fed a 5-week high-fat diet (HF) concurrently with ethanol extracts (Et-ext, 80 mg/kg) from roots (R), stems (S), and leaves (L) by oral gavage daily. Only R-Et-ext interventions showed significant weight reduction in mice compared with those in the HF group; however, mouse plasma contents of total cholesterols (TC), total triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) of all three Et-ext intervened groups showed significant reductions compared with those in the HF group. Furthermore, intervention with the ethyl acetate-partitioned fraction (EA-fra, 60 mg/kg) from R-Et-ext but not the n-butanol-partitioned fraction or water fraction from R-Et-ext showed significant weight reduction in mice compared with those in the HF group. The same molecular weights of three resveratrol tetramers, (+)-hopeaphenol, (+)-vitisin A, and (-)-vitisin B, were isolated from the EA-fra of VTT-R. The (+)-vitisin A and fenofibrate (25 mg/kg) but not the (+)-hopeaphenol and (-)-vitisin B interventions showed significant weight reduction in mice compared with those in the HF group. The total feed intake among the HF groups with or without interventions showed no significant differences. The mouse plasma contents of TC, TG, LDL, free fatty acid, and plasma lipase activity of the three resveratrol tetramer-intervened groups showed reductions in the mice compared with those in the HF group. It was proposed that the lipase inhibitory activities of VTT extracts and purified resveratrol tetramers might contribute in part to the antiobesity effect, and these results suggested that VTT may be developed as functional food for achieving antiobesity objectives and requires further investigation.
Keywords: (+)-vitisin A; Vitis thunbergii var. taiwaniana (VTT); high-fat diet (HF); lipase; obesity.