Comparative analysis of fecal metabolite profiles in HFD-induced obese mice after oral administration of huangjinya green tea extract

Abstract

To explore the impact of Huangjinya on metabolic disorders and host endogenous metabolite profiles, high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice were administrated with Huangjinya green tea extract (HGT) at the dose of 150 or 300 mg/kg for 9 weeks. Epigallocatechin gallate was the main catechin derivative, followed by epigallocatechin and catechin presented in HGT, which contained high levels of free amino acids (50.30 ± 0.60 mg/g). HGT significantly alleviated glucose and insulin intolerance, reduced hepatic lipid accumulation and liver steatosis, and prevented white adipose tissue expansion in HFD-fed mice. Untargeted mass spectrometry-based metabolomics analysis revealed that HGT reduced the abundance of fecal branched-chain amino acids, aromatic amino acids, sphingolipids, and most acyl cholines, modulated bile acid metabolism by increasing chenodeoxycholate and reducing cholic acid content, and increased unsaturated fatty acids content. Fatherly, HGT activated insulin/PI3K/Akt and AMPK signaling pathways in the liver, reduced adipogenic and lipogenic genes expression, and promoted the genes expression related to lipolysis and adipocyte browning in white adipose tissue, contributed to improving metabolic syndrome in HFD-fed mice. The current study reported the impact of HGT supplementation on endogenous metabolite profiles, and highlights the positive roles of HGT in preventing diet-induced obesity and the related metabolic disorders.