Abstract
Spirulina platensis is a blue-green algae with potential anti-obesity effects. In this study, the anti-obesity effects of whole Spirulina platensis (WSP), Spirulina platensis protein (SPP) and Spirulina platensis protein hydrolysate (SPPH) were compared in high-fat diet fed mice, and the potential acting mechanism of SPPH was also investigated. Totally, SPPH exhibited good anti-obesity effects (reducing 39.8%±9.7% of body weight), lowering 23.8%±1.6% of serum glucose, decreasing 20.8%±1.4% of total cholesterol, while positive drug Simvastatin had the corresponding values: 8.3%±4.6%, 24.8%±1.9% and -2.1%±0.2%, respectively. Subsequently, PCR array was used to conduct gene expression analysis in brain and liver tissues of SPPH-treated mice, which displayed distinctly different expression pattern. The most markedly changed genes included: Acadm (-34.7 fold), Gcg (2.5 fold), Adra2b (2 fold) and Ghsr (2 fold) in brain; Retn (39 fold), Fabp4 (15.5 fold), Ppard (6 fold) and Slc27a1 (5.4 fold) in liver. Further network analysis demonstrated that the significantly expressed genes in brain and liver tissues were mapped into an interacting network, suggesting a modulatory effect on brain-liver axis, major pathways were involved in the axis: PPAR, adipocytokine, AMPK, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and MAPK. This study showed that Spirulina platensis protein hydrolysate possessed anti-obesity effect in mice.
Highlights
The increasing consumption of high-fat diets and “fast food” leads to more and more obesity, which has become a major public health concern in the world
Pepsin hydrolysis was conducted on the extracted protein to obtain Spirulina platensis protein hydrolysate with a 3.6% of hydrolysis degree
The results showed that weight reduction percentages of whole Spirulina platensis (WSP), Spirulina platensis protein (SPP) and Spirulina platensis protein hydrolysate (SPPH) were 33.5%±7.3%33.1%±9.1% and 39.8%±9.7%, respectively, compared with high-fat diet (HFD) group (Fig 2A), which were far greater than the percentage of positive drug Simvastatin 8.3%±4.6%
Summary
The increasing consumption of high-fat diets and “fast food” leads to more and more obesity, which has become a major public health concern in the world. Obesity was considered to be association with chronic health disorders such as hyperlipidemia, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, non-alcoholic fatty liver, insulin resistance and osteoarthritis [1]. Mankind has been fighting against obesity, the adverse side effects and rebound weight gain are major challenge for conventional drug therapies of obesity. There are continuing needs to develop safe and effective remedies to treat obesity.
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