Effect Of Monascus Yellow Pigments On Oleic Acid-Induced Lipid Accumulation In HepG2 Cells

Monascus pigments are secondary metabolite produced in the fermentation process of monascus,which is a kind of ketone mixture with multiple functional activities such as lowering blood lipid,anti-oxidation,anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer.It has been found that monascus yellow pigments are the main functional component of monascus pigments that play a role in lowering lipids,but there is still no strong data to support its application in lipid-lowering food..In this paper,HepG2 cells were induced by oleic acid to establish a vitro fat accumulation model to evaluate the efficacy and mechanism of monascus yellow pigment C in improving lipid accumulation in liver cells.The cell survival rate was determined by MTT with different concentrations of monascus yellow pigment C and oleic acid for 24 h,the intracellular lipid droplet accumulation was observed by oil red O staining,determined the content of total cholesterol(TC)and triglyceride(TG)in cells.The main results are as follows.HepG2 cells steatosis model was successfully established with 0.3 mmol/L oleic acid.Monascus yellow pigment C at the concentration of 8 μg/mL could significantly reduce the intracellular TG content,and TG content decreased by 51.3%,showing no significant difference compared with the blank group(P<0.05).Monascus yellow pigment C had no significant effect on TC content in cells(P>0.05).Monascin and Monascus yellow pigment C at the concentration of 2 μg/mL could reduced the intracellular TG content by 26.3%and 33.3%respectively,with no significant difference in TC lowering effect(P>0.05).In vitro enzyme experiments showed that the IC50 value of Monascus yellow pigment C to pancreatic lipase was 75.8 μg/mL,the inhibition type was uncompetitive inhibition,reduce the digestion and absorption of exogenous triglycerides in some degree.Eukaryotic reference transcriptome sequencing and Western blot analysis showed Monascus yellow pigment C could reduce the uptake of free fatty acids to HepG2 cells by down-regulating the expression of FABP,upregulate PI3K expression to alleviates insulin resistance,up-regulate phosphorylation of ACC2 promoted the oxidation of fatty acids,which alleviated the accumulation of triglyceride in HepG2 cells.In conclusion,Monascus yellow pigment C can effectively prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease,has the potential effect of anti-obesity,and has the potential to be applied in lipid-lowering functional food.