Abstract
Cocoa tea (Camellia ptilophylla) is a naturally decaffeinated tea plant. Previously we found that cocoa tea demonstrated a beneficial effect against high-fat diet induced obesity, hepatic steatosis, and hyperlipidemia in mice. The present study aimed to investigate the anti-adipogenic effect of cocoa tea in vitro using preadipocytes 3T3-L1. Adipogenic differentiation was confirmed by Oil Red O stain, qPCR and Western blot. Our results demonstrated that cocoa tea significantly inhibited triglyceride accumulation in mature adipocytes in a dose-dependent manner. Cocoa tea was shown to suppress the expressions of key adipogenic transcription factors, including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR γ) and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP α). The tea extract was subsequently found to reduce the expressions of adipocyte-specific genes such as sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1c (SREBP-1c), fatty acid synthase (FAS), Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid translocase (FAT) and stearoylcoenzyme A desaturase-1 (SCD-1). In addition, JNK, ERK and p38 phosphorylation were inhibited during cocoa tea inhibition of 3T3-L1 adipogenic differentiation. Taken together, this is the first study that demonstrates cocoa tea has the capacity to suppress adipogenesis in pre-adipocyte 3T3-L1 similar to traditional green tea
Highlights
Obesity is one of the most common metabolic diseases worldwide[1]
Whereas the relative compositions of catechins in green tea extract increased in the order: epicatechin gallate (ECG) < EC < EGC < epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)
It has been suggested that adiposity is reduced by the inhibition of adipogenesis, which is associated with reductions of number and lipid content of adipocytes[25]
Summary
Obesity is one of the most common metabolic diseases worldwide[1]. Excessive accumulation of body fat may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and increased health problems, for instance, hypertension, type II diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and osteoarthritis[2,3]. In order to investigate the unclear underlying mechanisms of the biological effects of cocoa tea extract in adipocyte metabolism, we carried out the present study using the cell line 3T3-L1 preadipocyte with the same species with in vivo study to elucidate the anti-adipogenic effects of cocoa tea. Many reports suggest that mouse 3T3-L1 is one of the most well characterized and reliable in vitro models for studying the commitment of preadipocytes to differentiation into adipocytes This cell line possesses some phase 2 drug metabolizing enzymes, including ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C member 1, ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family C member 4, Glutathione S-transferase A2, and Glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit[24]. We used mouse 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cell line as a model to investigate the anti-adipogenic potential of cocoa tea and its underlying mechanism in modulating adipocyte metabolism
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