Abstract

The present study is designed to investigate the effect of an anti-obesity functional formula (PMC) composed of Prumus mume stem barks extract (PMSBE) and L-carnitine (2:1, w/w) on obesity and hyperlipidemia induced by high-fat diet in mice.Male ICR mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) with or without PMC (PMC-1 group: 450 mg/kg/day; PMC-2 group: 900 mg/kg/day) for 6 weeks to examine adipose tissue weight, serum lipid profile, and the pathological changes in liver tissue. The results showed that body weight gain was significantly lowered in PMC groups compared with the HFD group. PMC could improve lipid profile by lowering serum total cholesterol (Total-C), triacylglycerol (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) concentrations, and increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentration as compared with the HFD group. PMC also improved the pathological changes in liver tissue, decreased the relative weights of epididymal and perirenal WAT. Our findings suggest that PMC has significantly anti-obesity and hypolipidemic effects.

Key words: Prunus mume, anti-obesity functional formula, L-carnitine, high-fat diet.

Abbreviation

PMSBE, Prunus mume stem bark extract; PMC, PMSBE combined with L-carnitine (2:1, w/w); OR, orlistat; ND, normal diet; HFD, high-fat diet; LPS, lipopolysaccharide; Total-C, serum total cholesterol; TG, serum total triacylglycerol; LDL-C, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; GAE, gallic acid equivalents; RE, rutin equivalents; ND,normal diet; IC₅₀, half maximal inhibitory concentration.