Puerin III alleviates glucose and lipid metabolism disorders in high-fat high-sucrose diet-induced hyperlipidemic and hyperglycemic ApoE−/− mice

Abstract

• Puerin III was formed in the post-fermentation process of pu-erh tea. • Puerin III ameliorated the disorder of lipids in ApoE −/− mice by increasing the expression of LDLR. • Puerin III impaired glucose tolerance of ApoE −/− mice by inhibiting the α -glucosidase activity. Pu-erh tea as a popular post-fermented tea displays a significant effect on improving metabolic syndrome. Puerin III (P3) had already been identified as the characteristic chemical constituent in pu-erh tea. Nevertheless, the activity of P3 on glucose and lipid metabolism disorder is still unclear. In this study, the high-fat high-sucrose diet-induced ApoE −/− mice model was employed to assess the effects of P3 in vivo . Our study found that P3 dose-dependently ameliorated the plasma total cholesterol and fasting blood glucose (FBG) in the hypercholesterolaemic and hyperglycemic ApoE −/− mice. Our investigation in vitro revealed P3 decreased the FBG by inhibiting α -glucosidase. The study on HepG2 cells also confirmed that P3 promoted the clearance of cholesterol by increasing the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) expression . This research illustrated that P3 might be the active ingredient of Pu-erh tea and a promising therapeutic option to treat glucose and lipid metabolism disorders.