Suppression by licorice flavonoids of abdominal fat accumulation and body weight gain in high-fat diet-induced obese C57BL/6J mice.
We applied licorice flavonoid oil (LFO) to high-fat diet-induced obese C57BL/6J mice and investigated its effect. LFO contains hydrophobic flavonoids obtained from licorice by extraction with ethanol. The oil is a mixture of medium-chain triglycerides, having glabridin, a major flavonoid of licorice, concentrated to 1.2% (w/w). Obese mice were fed on a high-fat diet containing LFO at 0 (control), 0.5%, 1.0%, or 2.0% for 8 weeks. Compared with mice in the control group, those in the 1% and 2% LFO groups efficiently reduced the weight of abdominal white adipose tissues and body weight gain. A histological examination revealed that the adipocytes became smaller and the fatty degenerative state of the hepatocytes was improved in the 2% LFO group. A DNA microarray analysis of the liver showed up-regulation of those genes for beta-oxidation and down-regulation of those for fatty acid synthesis in the 2% LFO group. These findings suggest that LFO prevented and ameliorated diet-induced obesity via the regulation of lipid metabolism-related gene expression in the liver.
Aoki
Fumiki
F
Functional Food Ingredients Division, Kaneka Corporation, Japan.
Honda
Shinichi
S
Kishida
Hideyuki
H
Kitano
Mitsuaki
M
Arai
Naoki
N
Tanaka
Hozumi
H
Yokota
Shinichi
S
Nakagawa
Kaku
K
Asakura
Tomiko
T
Nakai
Yuji
Y
Mae
Tatsumasa
T
D052438:Adipocytes, White / Q000187:drug effects; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects*; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006035:Glycyrrhiza / Q000737:chemistry*; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects
D005419:Flavonoids