Antiadipogenic Effects of Mixtures of Cornus officinalis and Ribes fasciculatum Extracts on 3T3-L1 Preadipocytes and High-Fat Diet-Induced Mice

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been used worldwide as primary alternative healthcare supplements. Cornus officinalis (CO) and Ribes fasciculatum (RF) are traditional medicinal plants applied in East Asia to treat human diseases such as hepatitis, osteoporosis, oxidative stress and allergy. The aim of this study was to examine the anti-obesity effect of CO and RF on preadipocyte 3T3-L1 cells in vitro and high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity mice in vivo. Combination treatment of CO and RF in differentiated 3T3-L1 cells inhibited adipocyte differentiation through downregulation of adipogenesis-associated genes such as CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (Cebpa), fatty acid binding protein 4 (Fabp4), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (Pparg) and sterol regulatory element binding protein (Srebp1). In vivo animal models showed that a mixture of CO and RF inhibited HFD-induced weight gain, resulting in decreased abdominal visceral fat tissues and fatty hepatocyte deposition. In addition, CO+RF treatment decreased HFD-induced adipogenesis-associated genes in abdominal white fat tissue. These results suggest that administration of a CO and RF mixture prevented adipocyte differentiation and lipid accumulation in preadipocyte cells and HFD-induced body weight in obesity mice. Therefore, combined therapy of CO and RF may be a protective therapeutic agent against obesity.

Active Components and Pharmacological Effects of Cornus officinalis: Literature Review

“…There have been some studies exploring the pharmacological effects and the corresponding mechanisms of herb pairs containing C. officinalis. For example, studies showed that the mixed extract of C. officinalis and Morus alba root and bark could alleviate Osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms of arthroedema, pain and limping, and suppress the expressions of inflammatory markers TNF-α and MMP-13 in the articular cartilage (Park et al, 2020c); the mixture of C. officinalis and Ribes fasciculatum could ameliorate HFD-induced obesity in C57BL/6J mice, reduce the body fat, decrease the fatty deposition in hepatocytes, and suppress the expressions of adipogenesis-associated genes CCAAT/Cebpa, Fabp4, Pparg, and Srebp1 compared with the model mice (Park et al, 2020d). However, these studies only confirmed that the combination of different herbal medicines could enhance the original pharmacological effects, but did not reflect the synergistic mechanism or the side effects antagonistic mechanism between them.…”

Efficacy and Safety of Combined Extracts of Cornus officinalis and Ribes fasciculatum for Body Fat Reduction in Overweight Women

“…Combined treatment of CO and RF has become well-known traditional herbal agents during the past decade. Previous studies showed that combined CO and RF extracts had synergistic effects on anti-menopausal syndrome and anti-obesity [ 26 , 27 ]. CO and RF mixture decreased adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes, through the downregulation of adipogenic markers such as Adipoq , Fabp4 , Pparg , Srebp1 , and Plin1 [ 26 , 27 ].…”

“…Previous studies showed that combined CO and RF extracts had synergistic effects on anti-menopausal syndrome and anti-obesity [ 26 , 27 ]. CO and RF mixture decreased adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes, through the downregulation of adipogenic markers such as Adipoq , Fabp4 , Pparg , Srebp1 , and Plin1 [ 26 , 27 ]. Differentiation of adipocyte is characterized by lipid accumulation [ 33 ], CO and RF mixture also inhibited the number of lipid droplets in the cytoplasm of 3T3-L1 cells.…”

“…Furthermore, CO and RF mixture prevented both obesity murine models including OVX and high-fat diet induced obesity mice, the well-known features of obesity in murine model. Oral administration of CO and RF mixture reduced total body weight, %fat, white adipocyte size and hepatic steatosis, resulting in inhibition of body weight gain in OVX and high-fat diet induced obesity mice [ 26 , 27 ]. These reports support the clinical trial that CO and RF mixture could present anti-obesity effect on human.…”

“…Current studies demonstrated that treatment of CO and RF mixture (COEC) enhanced anti-menopausal effects by increasing estrogenic activity and decreasing ovariectomy (OVX) induced weight gain and osteoporosis [ 26 ]. In addition, mixture of CO and RF extracts showed antiadipogenic effects in pre-adipocyte 3T3-L1 cells and high-fat diet (HFD) induced overweight mice [ 27 ]. Although many beneficial effects of the COEC extract have been reported, clinical trials using COEC on obesity have not been studied.…”