Pear Extract and Malaxinic Acid Reverse Obesity, Adipose Tissue Inflammation, and Hepatosteatosis in Mice

Abstract

Scope: Obesity and diabetes are major public health problems and are emerging as pandemics. Considerable evidence suggests that pear fruit consumption is associated with a lower risk of obesity-related complications. Thus, the present study is conducted to investigate the therapeutic potential of pear extract (PE) for reversing obesity and associated metabolic complications in high-fat diet-induced obese mice.

Methods and results: Obesity is induced in male C57BL/6 mice fed a high-fat diet for 11 weeks. After the first 6 weeks on the diet, obese mice are administered vehicle or PE for 5 weeks. PE treatment decreases body weight gain, expands white adipose tissue (WAT), and causes hepatic steatosis in obese mice, as well as inhibits adipogenesis and lipogenesis. Impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance are improved by PE. In addition, PE reduces macrophage infiltration and expression of pro-inflammatory genes and deactivates mitogen-activated protein kinases in WAT. Finally, malaxinic acid is identified as an active component responsible for the anti-obesity effects of PE in mice.

Conclusion: The results demonstrate that PE supplementation ameliorates diet-induced obesity and associated metabolic complications and suggest the health-beneficial effects of both pear fruits and malaxinic acid in counteracting these diseases.

Keywords: hepatic steatosis; inflammation; malaxinic acid; obesity; pears.