Garcinia mangostana Suppresses Triacylglycerol Synthesis in Hepatocytes and Enterocytes.

Regulation of diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) and pancreatic lipase (PL) activities is important in the treatment of triacylglycerol (TG)-related metabolic diseases. Garcinia mangostana, also known as mangosteen, is a traditional medicine ingredient used in the treatment of inflammation in Southeast Asia. In this study, The ethanolic extract of G. mangostana peel inhibited human recombinant DGAT1 and DGAT2, and PL enzyme activities in vitro. The inhibitory activity of DGAT1 and DGAT2 enzymes of four representative bioactive substances in mangosteen was confirmed. In addition, G. mangostana was confirmed to suppress the serum TG levels in C57 mice by inhibiting the absorption and synthesis of TG in the gastrointestinal tract. Through this study, it was revealed that G. mangostana extract could be useful for the prevention and amelioration of TG-related metabolic diseases such as obesity and fatty liver.

The effect of honey consumption compared with sucrose on lipid profile in young healthy subjects (randomized clinical trial).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Several studies have demonstrated that honey consumption has beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease indicators. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of honey consumption compared with sucrose on lipid profile among young healthy subjects. METHODS: Sixty healthy subjects, aged 18-30 years, were randomly recruited into this double blind randomized trial and assigned into two groups: honey (received 70 g honey per day) and sucrose (received 70 g sucrose per day) groups. Total cholesterol, TG, LDL and HDL were measured in the control and intervention groups at the beginning and end of study. RESULTS: In this trial, the baseline FBS, SBP and DBP were not different between honey and sucrose groups (P > 0.3). We found evidence indicating consumption of honey can decrease total cholesterol, TG and LDL and increase HDL in healthy young subjects, but intake of sucrose increase total cholesterol, TG and LDL and decreased HDL. In all of these analyses, confounding variable including age, physical activity and some nutrient intake were adjusted. CONCLUSIONS: Honey consumption can improve the lipid profile such as; total cholesterol, TG and LDL and increase HDL, but consumption of sucrose increases total cholesterol, TG and LDL and decreases HDL. Further clinical trial studies are required to confirm our findings.

A molecular model for diacylglycerol acyltransferase from Mortierella ramanniana var. angulispora.

Acyl CoA diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT, EC 2.3.120) is recognized as a key player of cellular diacylglycerol metabolism. It catalyzes the terminal, yet the committed step in triacylglycerol synthesis using diacylglycerol and fatty acyl CoA as substrates. The protein sequence of diacylglycerol acyltransferse (DGAT) Type 2B in Moretierella ramanniana var. angulispora (Protein_ID = AAK84180.1) was retrieved from GenBank. However, a structure is not yet available for this sequence. The 3D structure of DGAT Type 2B was modeled using a template structure (PDB ID: 1K30) obtained from Protein databank (PDB) identified by searching with position specific iterative BLAST (PSI-BLAST). The template (PDB ID: 1K30) describes the structure of DGAT from Cucurbita moschata. Modeling was performed using Modeller 9v2 and protein model is hence generated. The DGAT type 2B protein model was subsequently docked with six inhibitors (sphingosine; trifluoroperazine; phosphatidic acid; lysophospatidylserine; KCl; 1, 2-diolein) using AutoDock (a molecular docking program). The binding of inhibitors to the protein model of DGAT type 2B is discussed.