Objective: This study, for the first time, investigates the effect of gum acacia (GA) on the expression of miR-33 and miR-155 and its association with the obesity and inflammation induced by Western diet (WD) consumption in mice.
Methods: Animals were divided into: normal diet (ND) group, WD group, GA group and GA + WD group.
Results: The WD group exhibited higher total body, liver, visceral fat weights, blood total cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose levels compared to ND group. The liver tissues showed severe inflammation and degeneration with higher hepatic TNF-α level. Interestingly, GA + WD group showed a decrease in the biochemical parameters and hepatic TNF-α level but had no effect on the weight increase. It also showed a significant upregulation of miR-33 and miR-155 compared to WD group.
Conclusions: GA mitigated the hyperlipidaemia and inflammation but not weight increase induced by WD ingestion via upregulation of miR-33 and miR-155 while reducing TNF-α level.
Keywords: Acacia; TNF-α; liver; micro RNA; obesity.