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ARTICLE
Anti-lipid droplets accumulation effect of Annona montana (mountain soursop) leaves extract on differentiation of preadipocytes
IVY LEUNG1, MARIA-LUISA VEISAGA2, MARGARITA ESPINAL1, WEI ZHANG1, ROBERT BARNUM1, MANUEL ALEJANDRO BARBIERI1,2,3,4,*
1 Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, 33199, USA
2 Biomolecular Sciences Institute, Florida International University, Miami, 33199, USA
3 Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, 33156, USA
4 International Center of Tropical Botany, Florida International University, Miami, 33199, USA
* Corresponding Author: MANUEL ALEJANDRO BARBIERI. Email:
BIOCELL 2022, 46(3), 567-578. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2022.014009
Received 29 August 2020; Accepted 16 August 2021; Issue published 18 November 2021
Abstract
The
Annona genus is a member of
Annonaceae, one of the largest families of plants across tropical and sub-tropical regions. This family has been used in several ethnomedicinal practices to treat a multitude of human diseases. However, the molecular mechanism underlying its effect on the lipid droplet formation and on the expression of adipogenic markers of this plant remain to be investigated. In this study, we examined whether the extracts from the aerial part of
Annona montana affect
in vitro differentiation of preadipocytes. For our investigations, both mouse embryo fibroblast 3T3-L1 and normal human primary subcutaneous preadipocytes were incubated with
Annona montana extracts (-and its subfractions-) and then analyzed on preadipocyte differentiation, lipid content, lipid droplet size and number, the expression of adipogenic-specific transcriptional factors, as well as cell survival. From our examinations, we found the
Annona montana ethyl acetate extract to exhibit a potent inhibitory effect on adipogenesis, without affecting cell survival, in a dose-dependent manner. Such inhibitory effects included a significant decrease in the accumulation of lipid content by both a dramatic reduction of size and number of lipid droplets. This extract strongly attenuated the expression of PPARγ and HMGB2. It also inhibited the expression of CEBPα, FAS, and Akt without influencing Erk1/2 activities. Our findings suggest that specifically, the
Annona montana ethyl acetate extract has a prominent inhibitory effect in cellular pathways of adipocyte differentiation by modulating specific gene expression, which is known to perform a pivotal role during adipogenesis.
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Cite This Article
LEUNG, I., VEISAGA, M., ESPINAL, M., ZHANG, W., BARNUM, R. et al. (2022). Anti-lipid droplets accumulation effect of
Annona montana (mountain soursop) leaves extract on differentiation of preadipocytes.
BIOCELL, 46(3), 567–578.