Polyphenol-rich Trapa quadrispinosa pericarp extract ameliorates high-fat diet induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by regulating lipid metabolism and insulin resistance in mice

Tunyu Jian; Han Lü; Xiaoqin Ding; Yuexian Wu; Yuanyuan Zuo; Jiawei Li; Jian Chen; Hong Gu

doi:10.7717/peerj.8165

Polyphenol-rich Trapa quadrispinosa pericarp extract ameliorates high-fat diet induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by regulating lipid metabolism and insulin resistance in mice

PeerJ. 2019 Nov 29:7:e8165. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8165. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Tunyu Jian¹, Han Lü¹, Xiaoqin Ding¹, Yuexian Wu¹, Yuanyuan Zuo¹, Jiawei Li¹, Jian Chen^{1

2}, Hong Gu³

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China.
² Department of Food Science and Technology, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China.
³ Department of Colorectal Surgery, Jiangyin Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangyin, China.

Abstract

In China, Trapa quadrispinosa (also called water caltrop) has long been used as a function food and folk medicine to treat diabetes mellitus for years. In the present study, the extract of T. quadrispinosa pericarp (TQPE) which mainly contains hydrolysable tannins was prepared to investigate the potential therapeutic action in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) mice induced by high fat-diet (HFD). After the administration of TQPE (15, 30 mg/kg/day) for 8 weeks, the increased weight of body and liver were significantly suppressed. TQPE also ameliorated liver lipid deposition and reduced lipids parameters of blood in mice. Moreover, TQPE attenuated oxidative stress and showed a hepatoprotective effect in mice. TQPE was also found to decrease the value of homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance. In addition, TQPE administration increased the phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and inhibited sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP) in the liver tissue. Meanwhile, TQPE elevated insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRs-1) and protein kinase B (Akt) phosphorylation. These results reflected that, as a nature product, TQPE is a potential agent for suppressing the process of NAFLD via regulation of the AMPK/SREBP/ACC and IRs-1/Akt pathways.

Keywords: AMPK/SREBP/ACC; High-fat diet; IRs-1/Akt; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Polyphenol; Trapa quadrispinosa pericarp.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81703224; No. 81773885; No. 31770366), The Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Modern Agricultural Plan (No. BE2016383), the Jiangsu Province Independent Innovation in Agricultural science and technology fund (CX(18)3042), and the Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Province (BK20160603). Support was also received from Jiangsu Scientific and Technological Innovations Platform (Jiangsu Provincial Service Center for Antidiabetic Drug Screening) and the Jiangsu Key Laboratory for the Research and Utilization of Plant Resources (No. JSPKLB201825; No. JSPKLB201833). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.