Ulva prolifera polysaccharide exerts anti-obesity effects via upregulation of adiponectin expression and gut microbiota modulation in high-fat diet-fed C57BL/6 mice

Hai-Ching Pung ^a,1, Wei-Sheng Lin ^a,1, Yi-Chen Lo ^a, Cheng-Chih Hsu ^b, Chi-Tang Ho c, Min-Hsiung Pan ^a,d,e,*

a Institute of Food Sciences and Technology, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

b Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan

c Department of Food Science, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

d Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan

e Department of Health and Nutrition Biotechnology, Asia University, Taichung 41354, Taiwan

Obesity is characterized by metabolic disorder and accompanying an altered and less diverse gut microbiota composition during a fat-enriched diet. Recent studies indicated that sulphated polysaccharide prevents high-fat diet (HFD) induced obesity, reduces metabolic disorder, and restores the gut microbiota. However, there are few studies about Ulva prolifera polysaccharide (UPP) may induce anti-obesogenic effects. Therefore, the present study investigates the enzymatic extracted UPP effects in HFD-fed mice. The results showed that UPP considerably slowed down the HFD-induced weight gain and improved metabolic disorders in HFD-fed mice. Notably, the effects were associated with lower body weight gain, reduced adipose tissue hypertrophy, triglyceride concentration in liver and systemic low-grade inflammation, and improved fasting blood glucose. Moreover, our result reveals that UPP may elevate the expression of AMPK via adiponectin activation. Interestingly, we found that UPP may induce PPARa agonist to enhance b-oxidation since the elevation of CPT-1 and PPARa expression simultaneously. Meanwhile, gut microbiota analysis revealed UPP promoted the growth of Parasutterella, Feacalibaculum, and Bifidobacterium, and reduced the abundance of Acetatifactor, Tyzerella, Ruminococcus_1, and Desulfovibrio. The changes in microbiota may have a positively correlated effect on improving obesity and metabolic abnormalities. UPP may prevent HFD-induced obesity and associated metabolic diseases, as well as modulate the composition of gut microbiota to facilitate the growth of probiotics.

Keywords: Gut microbiota, Metabolic disorder, Obesity, Sulphated polysaccharide, Ulva prolifera

https://doi.org/10.38212/2224-6614.3395