Antihyperlipidemic And Liver Protecting Effects Of Water Extract From Antrodia Cinnamomea And Study On Related Geen Expressions

Hyperlipidemia is one of the most important factors leading to a series of cardiovascular diseases.Commonly used antihyperlipidemic drugs are easy to cause liver injury or obvious adverse reactions,thus the development of new antihyperlipidemic drugs is of great significance in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases.Antrodia cinnamomea harboring many biological activities,has long medical history in Taiwan and is well known as ‘the ruby of the forest’.Its antihyperlipidemic effect is becoming a hot research topic in recent years.In this study,Antrodia cinnamomea mycelia were cultured by solid-state fermentation established in our previous research.Based on the mice highfat model,the antihyperlipidemic indices,weight loss and liver protection effects of the water extract from Antrodia cinnamomea mycelia(WEAC)were investigated.The mechanism involved in the antihyperlipidemic effect of WEAC was preliminarily analyzed on transcriptional regulation of lipid metabolism genes in mice.The main results are as follows:WEAC was extracted from Antrodia cinnamomea mycelia by hot water extraction.Its main components were total sugar 30.66%(including reducing sugar 5.60%,polysaccharide 25.06%),triterpene 2.22%,protein 62.91%,and other components 4.21%.C57BL/6 mice were selected as experimental animals.After treatment with high fat diet(HFaD)or high fructose diet(HFrD)for 8 weeks,the serum levels of TG and T-CHO were 40.69% and 42.96% higher than those in normal mice,respectively.The levels of TG and T-CHO in HFrD-treated mice were 99.21% and 103.64% higher,than those in normal mice,with significant difference(P < 0.01).It can be seen that HFrD is superior to HFaD for establishing hyperlipidemia mice model.HFrD-treated mice were randomly divided into Model,Simvastatin,WEAC-L and WEAC-H group and treated with water,simvastatin,low(300 mg/kg*d)or high(600 mg/kg*d)dose WEAC,respectively,for four weeks.Eyeball blood was taken,serums were separated and preserved after intragastric administration.The levels of T-CHO,TG,LDL-C and HDL-C in all groups were detected.The results showed that WEAC could reduce TCHO and LDL-C levels,and increase HDL-C level in mice,significantly(P < 0.01).And the effect of WEAC on LDL-C and HDL-C levels is superior to Simvastatin(the positive drug)and showed a dose-dependent manner.However,WEAC had no obvious effect on TG.The mice body weights and food-intake were monitored.The epididymis fat weight was measured and the body weight gain of mice was calculated after the experiment.The body weights of WEAC-treated mice showed a downward trend compared with the model group.The body weight and epididymis fat index of WEAC treated mice were significantly lower than those of the model group at the end of intragastric administration(P < 0.01).The contents of T-AOC,SOD and MDA in liver tissue were determined,and HE staining of liver was made and observed.The results showed that WEAC could significantly increase the concentration of Total antioxidant capacity(T-AOC)and Superoxide dismutase(SOD)(P < 0.01)and decrease the concentration of Malonic dialdehyde(MDA)in liver tissue(P < 0.01)in a dose-dependent manner,which was better than Simvastatin.The section of pathologic tissues showed that WEAC could reduce the degree of inflammation and infiltration in liver tissue caused by high fructose.On the abovementioned basis,the mechanism of antihyperlipidemic effect of WEAC was preliminarily analyzed.The transcriptional levels of lipid metabolism-related genes in liver and adipose tissue were analyzed by quantitative PCR.We found that WEAC could inhibit the expression of SREBP1 c,PPARα,HMGR and FAS genes and promote the expression of LDLR and ATGL gene,while had no effect on the expression level of PPARγ and DGAT gene.In conclusion,our study indicated that WEAC has good effects on reducing blood lipid,losing weight,and protecting liver,and is closely related to the regulation of transcriptional expression of SREBP1 c,PPARα,HMGR,LDLR,ATGL and FAS.The results provide a theoretical basis for the development and application of Antrodia cinnamomea as a novel hypolipidemic health product or drug.