Finger Citron Extract Ameliorates Glycolipid Metabolism and Inflammation by Regulating GLP-1 Secretion via TGR5 Receptors in Obese Rats.

Philip F Uzor,Aofei Tian,Zhen Wu,Yujiao Yang,Yao Wei,Jiao Guo,Xuguang Hu

doi:10.1155/2021/6623379

Abstract

Finger citron (FC) is one of many traditional Chinese herbs that have been used to treat obesity. The aim of this study was to elucidate the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of FC on obese rats. Rats were fed with a high-fat diet as a model of obesity and treated with FC at three different dosages for 6 weeks. Pathology in liver tissue was observed. Glucose levels, lipids levels, and inflammatory indicators in serum were evaluated by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Furthermore, the expression of G protein-coupled receptor 5 (TGR5) pathway genes in rat colon tissue was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis (RT-PCR). Our result revealed that FC alleviates obesity by reducing body weight (BW) and waist circumference, managing inflammation and improving glycolipid metabolism, liver function, and liver lipid peroxidation in vivo. In addition, the mechanism of FC on obesity is possibly the stimulation of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) secretion by activating the TGR5 pathway in intestinal endocrine cells. Our studies highlight the obesity reduction effects of FC and one of the mechanisms may be the activation of the TGR5 pathway in intestinal endocrine cells.

Highlights

Obesity is a complex metabolic condition with attendant disorders that poses a significant risk of morbidity and mortality on a global scale [1]
We speculated that the waist circumference of highfat diet group (HFD) would remain unchanged after reaching a certain measurement level, whereas that in the normal group continued to increase. e fat indexes in the three Finger citron (FC) groups showed different degrees of decrease (Figure 1(f )). ese results suggest that FC reduced body weight, waist circumference, and lipid deposition in obese rats
Zhang et al showed that hesperidin could increase the glucose consumption of HepG2 cells by enhancing the phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase, which plays an important role in regulating the blood sugar levels [35]. e present study demonstrated that FC increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and decreased FBG, insulin, HOMA-IA, TC, TG, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in obese rats, not to mention its reduction of fat index levels

Summary

Introduction

Obesity is a complex metabolic condition with attendant disorders that poses a significant risk of morbidity and mortality on a global scale [1]. It is associated with multiple comorbidities involving glycolipid metabolism, insulin resistance, and dyslipidemia, as well as chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, and liver diseases [2, 3]. Patients commonly prefer pharmacotherapy or surgical approaches rather than a healthy diet and exercise [4]. Pharmaceutical drugs such as orlistat often cause gastrointestinal adverse effects and even liver and kidney injury. GLP-1 and its analogues have been increasingly recognized as a hot pot in the medical field for obesity and type 2 diabetes [8]

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