Theophylline Extracted from Fu Brick Tea Affects the Metabolism of Preadipocytes and Body Fat in Mice as a Pancreatic Lipase Inhibitor

Abstract

The dramatic increase in obesity is putting people under increasing pressure. Lipase inhibitors, as a kind of effective anti-obesity drug, have attracted more and more researchers’ attention in recent years because of their advantages of acting on the intestinal tract and having no side effects on the central nervous system. In this study, lipase inhibitor Fu Brick Theophylline (FBT) was screened based on enzyme molecular dynamics, and the inhibition mechanism of lipase inhibitors on obesity was analyzed and discussed at the cellular level and animal model level. We found that FBT had high inhibition effects of lipase with an IC50 of 1.02~0.03 μg/mL. Firstly, the laboratory used 3T3-L1 proadipocytes as models, flow cytometry was used to detect the effects of FBT on the cycle, apoptosis and intracellular ROS activity of proadipocytes. To study the contents of triglyceride, total cholesterol, related metabolites and related gene and protein expression in adipocytes. The results showed that FBT could reduce ROS production and inflammatory factor mRNA expression during cell differentiation. Secondly, by establishing the animal model of high-fat feed ob nutritional obese mice, the morphological observation and gene expression analysis of body weight, fat rate, adipocyte and hepatocyte metabolism of FBT obese mice were further discussed. It was proven that FBT can effectively reduce the degree of fatty liver, prevent liver fibrosis and fat accumulation, and improve the damage of mitochondrial membrane structure. This study provides a theoretical basis for the screening and clinical treatment of lipase inhibitors.

Egg white-derived peptides reduced blood glucose in high-fat-diet and low-dose streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic mice via regulating the hepatic gluconeogenic signaling and metabolic profile

“…43 Another study showed that theophylline extracted from Fu brick tea increased the secretion of FAHFAs in high-fat-diet fed nutritionally obese mice, which further contributed to the levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides. 44 A later study reported that naringenin could affect the serum metabolism of FAHFAs to prevent nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in NASH-inducing methionine–choline-deficient diet mice. Moreover, metabolic homeostasis in azithromycin-induced disordered intestinal microecology mice could be improved by the supplementation of alginate oligosaccharide, which was via the Bacteroides acidifaciens – FAHFAs axis.…”

Fu brick tea alleviates high fat induced non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by remodeling the gut microbiota and liver metabolism

“…The impaired clearance of chylomicrons, LDL, very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and other substances in the plasma of ApoE –/– mice leads to the deposition of a large number of lipid substances in the liver. ApoE –/– mice can better simulate the occurrence and development of human NAFLD, and are a reliable model for the study of NAFLD ( 12 , 13 ). In this study, the body weight, liver weight, abdominal fat weight, and ALT and AST activities of the FBT groups were lower than those of the model group, which reflected that FBT played a protective role for the liver.…”

“…During the fermentation process of FBT, some new are substances formed, such as theaflavin, thearubin, and theabrownin (10). Previous studies have shown that FBT and its extract can reduce blood lipids and oxidative stress in high-fat fed mice, improve lipid metabolism (11)(12)(13), and reduce obesity by regulating the gut microbiota (14,15). However, whether FBT can alleviate NAFLD injury through the gut microbiota has not been reported.…”

Chemical components of Fu brick tea and its potential preventive effects on metabolic syndrome

“…During the flowering period, with the growth and reproduction of the dominant strain Eurotium cristatum , a series of complex changes have taken place in the biochemical components of FBT, thus forming the unique aroma and taste. Recently, FBT has attracted much attention due to its unique effects of promoting health, such as immune regulation (Sun et al., 2022 ; Xie et al., 2020 ), antioxidation (Song & Gao, 2014 ; Zhao et al., 2022 ), antiobesity (Li et al., 2022 ; Li, Liu, et al., 2013 ; Liu et al., 2015 ), anti‐diabetes, blood lipid lowering (Li, Lo, et al., 2013 ; Liu et al., 2020 ; Liu, Liu, et al., 2022 ), regulation of intestinal flora (Li et al., 2022 ; Zhang, Ren, Zhao, Cheng, et al., 2022 ), liver protection (Foster et al., 2016 ), antiproliferation (Luo et al., 2013 ; Tian et al., 2016 ), and antibacterial (Keller et al., 2013 ; Wang et al., 2015 ). FBT has become a common drink in daily life.…”