title: Regulation of obesity and lipid disorders by herbal extracts from Morus alba, Melissa officinalis, and Artemisia capillaris in high-fat diet-induced obese mice.
abstract: Melissa officinalis L. (Labiatae), Morus alba L. (Moraceae), and Artemisia capillaris Thunb. (Compositae) are suggested to be involved in the regulation of hyperlipidemia. We hypothesized that Ob-X, a mixture of three herbs, Morus alba, Melissa officinalis and Artemisia capillaris [corrected] improves lipid metabolism, body weight gain and adiposity and that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARalpha) is associated with these events. Mice fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks exhibited increases in body weight gain and adipose tissue mass compared with mice fed a low fat diet. However, feeding a high-fat diet supplemented with Ob-X significantly reduced these effects. Ob-X treatment also decreased the circulating levels of triglycerides and total cholesterol, and inhibited hepatic lipid accumulation. Ob-X supplementation was found to increase the hepatic mRNA levels of PPARalpha target enzymes responsible for fatty acid beta-oxidation. Moreover, Ob-X elevated the endogenous expression of a luciferase reporter gene containing three copies of a PPAR response element (PPRE) in NMu2Li liver cells. These data demonstrate that Ob-X regulates body weight gain, adipose tissue mass, and lipid metabolism in part through changes in the expression of hepatic PPARalpha target genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Mokwon University, Daejon 302-729, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jinmi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyungsil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chae
authors.forename: Juran
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Byung-Young
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Hee Suk
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sunhyo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Min-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Michung
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000187:drug effects; D000818:Animals; D019306:Artemisia / Q000737:chemistry*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000378:metabolism; D004041:Dietary Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D031334:Melissa / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D031625:Morus / Q000737:chemistry*; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction / Q000187:drug effects; D047493:PPAR alpha / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids; D047493:PPAR alpha; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol