• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.120-126
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• 2017

Background: The present study investigated the effect of ginseng berry hot water extract (GBx) on blood flow via the regulation of lipid metabolites and blood coagulation in rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Methods: Sixty rats were divided into five groups in descending order of body weight. Except for the control group, the other four groups were fed a HFD containing 45% kcal from fat for 11 wk without GBx. GBx groups were then additionally treated by gastric gavage with GBx dissolved in distilled water at 50 (GBx 50) mg/kg, 100 (GBx 100) mg/kg, or 150 (GBx 150) mg/kg body weight for 6 wk along with the HFD. To investigate the effects of GBx on rats fed a HFD, biochemical metabolite, blood coagulation assay, and histological analysis were performed. Results: In the experiments to measure the serum levels of leptin and apolipoprotein B/A, GBx treatment attenuated the HFD-induced increases in these metabolites (p < 0.05). Adiponectin and apolipoprotein E levels in GBx-treated groups were significantly higher than the HFD group. Prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time were increased in all GBx-treated groups. In the GBx-treated groups, the serum levels of thromboxane $A_2$ and serotonin were decreased and concentrations of serum fibrinogen degradation products were increased (p < 0.05). Moreover, histomorphometric dyslipidemia-related atherosclerotic changes were significantly improved by treatment with GBx. Conclusion: These results suggest the possibility that GBx can ameliorate blood flow by decreasing intima-media thickness via the regulation of blood coagulation factors related to lipid metabolites in rats fed a HFD.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2015

Although it has recently been reported that Acanthopanax senticosus has a protective effect against the development of metabolic disorders such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia, its underlying molecular mechanisms have remained to be elucidated. In this study, we observed that treatment of an extract of A. senticosus (ASE) reduced body weight and adiposity and improved glucose tolerance in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice. HFD-induced weight gain in white adipose tissues and liver was also significantly reduced in ASE-treated HFD-fed mice, which was found to be contributed by suppression of mRNA expression of genes involved in fatty-acid uptake and fat synthesis in white adipose tissue. ASE treatment also attenuated M1 macrophage activation, increased regulatory T ($T_{reg}$) cell population, and modulated leptin/adiponectin profile that might alleviate chronic inflammation to protect against HFD-induced insulin resistance. Our findings suggest a therapeutic potential of ASE for prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes without adverse effects such as weight gain and dyslipidemia.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.99-106
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• 2017

Obesity is a critical risk factor for the hypertension. Although angiotensin II (Ang II) in obese individuals is known to be upregulated in obesity-induced hypertension, direct evidence that explains the underlying mechanism for increased vascular tone and consequent increase in blood pressure (BP) is largely unknown. The purpose of this study is to investigate the novel mechanism underlying Ang II-induced hyper-contractility and hypertension in obese rats. Eight-week old male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed with 60% fat diet or normal diet for 4 months. Body weight, plasma lipid profile, plasma Ang II level, BP, Ang II-induced vascular contraction, and expression of regulatory proteins modulating vascular contraction with/without Ang II stimulation were measured. As a result, high fat diet (HFD) accelerated age-dependent body weight gaining along with increased plasma Ang II concentration. It also increased BP and Ang II-induced aortic contraction. Basal expression of p-CPI-17 and myosin light chain (MLC) kinase was increased by HFD along with increased phosphorylation of MLC. Ang II-induced phosphorylation of CPI-17 and MLC were also higher in HFD group than control group. In conclusion HFD-induced hypertension is through at least in part by increased vascular contractility via increased expression and activation of contractile proteins and subsequent MLC phosphorylation induced by increased Ang II.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.315-323
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• 2018

Rapid increase of diabetic population is a major health concern in Korea. In a trial to develop food components which can prevent and/or cure diabetes, we investigated the anti-diabetic activity of curcumin in high fat diet (HFD)-induced type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) animal model. C57BL/6 mice were divided into three groups: normal diet (ND), high fat diet (HFD), and curcumin (CUR, HFD+0.02% curcumin). Mice were fed each diet for 16 weeks. CUR significantly reduced body weight gain, the levels of plasma glucose, insulin, total-cholesterol (T-C), and LDL-C, whereas increased HDL-C compared to those of HFD group. Notably, insulin signaling pathway was activated by CUR. This suggests that CUR improves obesity-associated T2DM by overcoming insulin resistance in part.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2018

Due to the recent economic development, the diet style has become more and more westernized in Korea, which increased the concern of our well-beings. Our well-beings are also associated with the gut microbiota which vary depending on the dietary intake. In this study, we compared gut microbiome shifted by two diets: high-fat diets (HFD) and low-fiber diet (LFD) based on 16S rRNA gene sequences using MiSeq. Compared to the control diet, LFD and HFD treatments significantly decreased species richness, while there was no difference in species evenness. Both diet treatments significantly increased the relative abundance of the Proteobacteria (p<0.05), especially the genus Sutterella. Bacteroidetes was significantly decreased in HFD groups, where the family S24-7 was decreased most. On the other hand, significant difference between HFD and LFD was seen among Firmicutes, where the abundance of family Lachnospiraceae was lower in LFD groups (p<0.05). PICRUSt-based metabolic difference analyses showed LFD treatment significantly decreased metabolisms of amino acid, carbohydrate and methane (p<0.01). In contrast, HFD significantly increased amino acid metabolism (p<0.05). Glycan biosynthesis and metabolism were significantly increased in both treatment groups (p<0.01). Our results suggest that long-term unbalanced dietary intakes induce gut dysbiosis, leading to metabolic and colonic disorders.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.363-369
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• 2014

Obesity is a worldwide problem that contributes to serious diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and atherosclerosis. Recently, much research has examined functional natural materials and their anti-obesity activity. This study investigated the effect of enzyme-treated Ecklonia cava extracts on mice fed a high fat diet. To test the anti-obesity effects of a diet containing the enzyme-treated E. cava extracts (EEc), C57BL/6NTacSam mice were divided into six groups : normal diet (ND), high-fat diet (HFD), high-fat with Garcinia extract diet (GHD), and three high-fat with EEc diet (EHD250, EHD500, and EHD1000) groups. After 9 weeks, body weight was increased significantly in the HFD group compared to all of the EHD groups, and the weights of the liver, perirenal fat and epididymal fat paralleled the increase in body weight. The serum GOT, GPT, triglyceride, total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol levels were lower in the EHD1000 group than in the HFD group. The glucose and leptin concentrations were lowest in the EHD1000 group and C/EBP family expression was decreased in a dose-dependent manner. These results indicate that E. cava extracts not only have anti-oxidation functions but also anti-obesity effects.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2011

This study was performed to investigate the antioxidant mechanism of tomato wine with varying lycopene content in rats fed a high fat diet (HFD). Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups (n=10 per group) and fed an HFD (35% of total energy from fat) plus ethanol (7.2% of total energy from alcohol), tomato wine with varying lycopene content (0.425 mg%, 1.140 mg% or 2.045 mg% lycopene) or an isocaloric control diet for 6 weeks. Mice fed HFD plus ethanol significantly increased erythrocyte hydrogen peroxide and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels with increases in activities of erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and glutathione reductase (GR) compared to pair-fed rats. Supplementation of tomato wine with varying lycopene content decreased ethanol-mediated increases of erythrocyte lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzyme activities in HFD-fed rats, and tomato wine with higher lycopene appeared to be more effective. Tomato wine also dose-dependently lowered TBARS levels with decreased pro-oxidant enzyme, xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity in plasma of HFD-fed rats. In contrast to erythrocytes, the inhibitory effects of tomato wine on hepatic lipid peroxidation were linked to increased hepatic antioxidant enzymes (SOD and CAT) and alcohol metabolizing enzyme (alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase) activities. There were no significant differences in hepatic XOD and cytochrome P450-2E1 activities among the groups. Together, our data suggest that tomato wine fortified with lycopene has the potential to protect against ethanol-induced oxidative stress via regulation of antioxidant or pro-oxidant enzymes and alcohol metabolizing enzyme activities in plasma, erythrocyte and liver.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.75-81
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• 2011

This study was designed to investigate the effects of fermented turmeric extract on body weight, abdominal fat mass and biochemical markers related to obesity in rats fed high fat diet. Turmeric and brown sugar was equally mixed and fermented for one year. Wistar rats (weighing about 125 g (15 rats)) were divided into three groups: high fat diet (20.9%) and brown sugar 7.2% (HFD), turmeric powder in replace of corn starch 12.8%, brown sugar 7.2% (TP), fermented turmeric powder 20% (FTP) for four weeks. The final body weight was about 425g. The retroperitoneal fat weights in TP group showed the tendency to decrease regardless of feed intake in the rats. Serum levels of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol in the FTP group showed the lowering tendency than those of the HFD group (p<0.05). Serum levels of leptin, adiponectin and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in the FTP group was significantly (p<0.05) lower than that of the HFD group, and serum level of tumor necrosis factor-$\alpha$ (TNF-$\alpha$) in all the groups were similar. These results suggest that fermented turmeric extract might be effective to prevent obesity in rats fed high fat diet.

• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.49-58
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• 2021

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of white pan bread added with Kamut (Triticum turgidum spp.) on high fat diet (HFD)-induced obese C57BL/6 mice. Methods: The white pan bread or white pan bread with Kamut (BK) were administered for 8 weeks in HFD-induced obese C57BL/6 mice. To evaluate the effect and its mechanisms of BK on obese mice, we measured body weight change, serum lipid profiles, histopathological analysis, and protein expression of CCAAT/enhancer binding protein-α (C/EBPα) in the liver. Results: Administration of BK significantly decreased body weight in HFD-induced obese mice. In addition, BK-administered group significantly reduced serum total cholesterol, glucose, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels compared with the HFD-induced control group. The HFD-induced mice had damaged liver tissue and increased the size of adipose tissue, but BK-administered group attenuated liver damage and decreased the size of adipocyte. Furthermore, administration of BK significantly down-regulated C/EBPα in the liver compared with HFD-fed mice. In particular, BK-administered group has higher inhibited body weight, serum lipid profiles, and C/EBPα expressions than white pan bread-administered group. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that administration of BK attenuated HFD-induced obesity by regulation of C/EBPα than consumption of white pan bread. Therefore, BK could be developed as a bread for prevention of obesity.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.15-15
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• 2012

Obesity is a physical condition that results from excessive storage of fat in the body. The present study examined the anti-obesity effects of the selected natural medicine, Galla rhois extract (GRE) and solvent fractions on 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and in vivo studies. Here, we show that EtOAc fraction of Galla rhois inhibits the differentiation of the 3T3-L1 preadipocytes induced by differentiated medium in a dose-dependent manner. To investigate the effect of the GRE-EtOAc fraction on obesity in high fat diet-fed C57BL/6 mice, which included a normal diet (ND), high-fat diet (HFD) and HFD+GRE concentration-dependent, were fed to the mice for 6 weeks. The GRE-EtOAc fraction was inhibited the highest adipocyte differentiation in vitro, the GRE supplement significantly decreased body weight and visceral fat mass compared to the HFD group. The total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the plasma were significantly decreased by GRE supplementation compared with those of the HFD group. Also, we aimed to determine the differentiation inhibition and the modulation of differentiation genes brought about by the Galla rhois in adipocyte. A cDNA microarray-based method was introduced for the high contents screening (HCS) of gene expressions. This technology has revolutionized gene expression studies by providing the means to measure mRNA levels in thousands of genes simultaneously in simple and complex biological samples. 13 genes were founded to be affected in their expression levels by more than 5-fold up-regulation after 4 days treatment with the EtOAc fraction from Galla rhois. Otherwise, 21 genes were founded to be affected in their expression levels by more than 5-fold down-regulation treated with the EtOAc fraction. Therefore, Galla rhois extract may be considered for use in a therapeutic agent to control obesity.