Evaluation of the differential gene expression of the impact of epicatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) on antioxidant enzymes in mice at risk for cardiovascular disease

Abstract

The polyphenol epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is present in green tea, has been demonstrated to possess antioxidant qualities, possible advantages for cardiovascular health, and therapeutic effects in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a common ailment that impairs liver function. This work looked at the effects of EGCG on the differential gene expression levels of the superoxide dismutase 2(SOD2), Glutathione peroxidase-1 (Gpx1), Catalase (CAT), and Thioredoxin Reductase (TrxR1) genes coding for antioxidant defense enzymes to determine whether EGCG could enhance antioxidant defense capacity in mice at risk of cardiovascular disease caused by a high-fat diet and sedentary lifestyle. It was shown that liver tissue samples from male mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) and two control diets (CD) with or without EGCG supplementation showed distinct expression patterns for the genes Sod2, Gpx1, Catalase, and other transcripts. For this investigation of differential gene expression levels, male mice with sedentary lifestyles and two different control groups that underwent physical activity with or without EGCG treatment were also utilized. GraphPad Prism version 6 was used to conduct Tukey-Kramer multiple comparison tests between the treatment and control groups. For the results, p 0.05 was chosen as the significant level. The study results show that EGCG increases the enzyme activities of Sod2, Gpx1, CAT, and TrxR1 which are related to antioxidant defense differential gene expression. The results of this study demonstrated that cycle threshold (CT) values before EGCG supplementation were greater than CT values after EGCG supplementation (p-value = 0.424 versus p-value = 0.2541 for diets and p-value = 0.5547 versus p-value = 0.5149 for physical exercise), suggesting that EGCG enhanced the differently expressed genes.