• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.400-407
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• 2023

Background: Rb3 is a ginsenoside with anti-inflammatory properties in many cell types and has been reported to attenuate inflammation-related metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and cardiovascular disease. However, the effect of Rb3 on podocyte apoptosis under hyperlipidemic conditions, which contributes to the development of obesity-mediated renal disease, remains unclear. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the effect of Rb3 on podocyte apoptosis in the presence of palmitate and explore its underlying molecular mechanisms. Methods: Human podocytes (CIHP-1 cells) were exposed to Rb3 in the presence of palmitate as a model of hyperlipidemia. Cell viability was assessed by MTT assay. The effects of Rb3 on the expression of various proteins were analyzed by Western blotting. Apoptosis levels were determined by MTT assay, caspase 3 activity assay, and cleaved caspase 3 expression. Results: We found that Rb3 treatment alleviated the impairment of cell viability and increased caspase 3 activity as well as inflammatory markers in palmitate-treated podocytes. Treatment with Rb3 dosedependently increased PPARδ and SIRT6 expression. Knockdown of PPARδ or SIRT6 reduced the effects of Rb3 on apoptosis as well as inflammation and oxidative stress in cultured podocytes. Conclusions: The current results suggest that Rb3 alleviates inflammation and oxidative stress via PPARδ-or SIRT6-mediated signaling, thereby attenuating apoptosis in podocytes in the presence of palmitate. The present study provides Rb3 as an effective strategy for treating obesity-mediated renal injury.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.312-318
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• 2023

The natural flavonoid macakurzin C (1) exhibited adiponectin biosynthesis-inducing activity during adipogenesis in human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and its molecular mechanism was directly associated with a pan-peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) modulator affecting all three PPAR subtypes α, γ, and δ. In this study, increases in adiponectin biosynthesis-inducing activity by macakurzin C derivatives (2-7) were studied. The most potent adiponectin biosynthesis-inducing compound 6, macakurzin C 3,5-dimethylether, was elucidated as a dual PPARα/γ modulator. Compound 6 may exhibit the most potent activity because of the antagonistic relationship between PPARδ and PPARγ. Docking studies revealed that the O-methylation of macakurzin C to generate compound 6 significantly disrupted PPARδ binding. Compound 6 has therapeutic potential in hypoadiponectinemia-related metabolic diseases.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.386-398
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• 2020

Tissue fibrosis is an eventual pathologic change of numerous chronic illnesses, which is characterized by resident fibroblasts differentiation into myofibroblasts during inflammation, coupled with excessive extracellular matrix deposition in tissues, ultimately leading to failure of normal organ function. Now, there are many mechanistic insights into the pathogenesis of tissue fibrosis, which facilitate the discovery of effective antifibrotic drugs. Moreover, many chronic diseases remain a significant clinical unmet need. For the past five years, many research works have undoubtedly addressed the functional dependency of ginsenosides in different types of fibrosis and the successful remission in various animal models treated with ginsenosides. Caveolin-1, interleukin, thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1), liver X receptors (LXRs), Nrf2, microRNA-27b, PPARδ-STAT3, liver kinase B1 (LKB1)-AMPK, and TGF-β1/Smads are potential therapy targeting using ginsenosides. Ginsenosides can play a targeting role and suppress chronic inflammatory response, collagen deposition, and epitheliale-mesenchymal transition (EMT), as well as myofibroblast activation to attenuate fibrosis. In this report, our aim was to focus on the therapeutic prospects of ginsenosides in fibrosis-related human diseases making use of results acquired from various animal models. These findings should provide important therapeutic clues and strategies for the exploration of new drugs for fibrosis treatment.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.363-371
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• 2008

As a computational method for the discovery of the effective agonists for PPARd, we address the usefulness of molecular dynamics free energy (MDFE) simulation with explicit solvent in terms of the accuracy and the computing cost. For this purpose, we establish an efficient computational protocol of thermodynamic integration (TI) that is superior to free energy perturbation (FEP) method in parallel computing environment. Using this protocol, the relative binding affinities of GW501516 and its derivatives for PPARd are calculated. The accuracy of our protocol was evaluated in two steps. First, we devise a thermodynamic cycle to calculate the absolute and relative hydration free energies of test molecules. This allows a self-consistent check for the accuracy of the calculation protocol. Second, the calculated relative binding affinities of the selected ligands are compared with experimental IC50 values. The average deviation of the calculated binding free energies from the experimental results amounts at the most to 1 kcal/mol. The computational efficiency of current protocol is also assessed by comparing its execution times with those of the sequential version of the TI protocol. The results show that the calculation can be accelerated by 4 times when compared to the sequential run. Based on the calculations with the parallel computational protocol, a new potential agonist of GW501516 derivative is proposed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.697-702
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• 2015

While athletic abilities such as speed, endurance and recovery are important in the horse, genes related to these abilities have not been extensively investigated. Here, we characterized the horse peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta ($PPAR{\delta}$) gene and analyzed the expression of $PPAR{\delta}$ during exercise. $PPAR{\delta}$ is a known regulator of ${\beta}$-oxidation, muscle fiber transformation, and running endurance. Through evolutionary analysis using the synonymous and non-synonymous mutation ratio, it was revealed that positive selection occurred in the horse $PPAR{\delta}$ gene. Two important domains related to nuclear hormone receptors, C4 zinc finger and ligand binding domain, were also found to be conserved well in horse $PPAR{\delta}$. Horse $PPAR{\delta}$ was expressed ubiquitously in many tissues, but the expression level was various depending on the tissues. In the skeletal muscle, $PPAR{\delta}$ increased about 2.5 folds after 30 min of exercise. Unlike in muscle, the increase of $PPAR{\delta}$ expression was observed at 60 min but not 30 min of exercise in leukocytes. This finding might be useful for testing the endurance of horse using blood samples. Conclusively, the horse $PPAR{\delta}$ gene is evolutionarily conserved well and can be used as a biomarker of endurance in horse.