Beneficial effects of cordycepin on metabolic profiles of liver and plasma from hyperlipidemic hamsters

Abstract

In this study, ¹H NMR-based metabonomics was applied to evaluate the beneficial effects of cordycepin (3′-deoxyadenosine), a natural monomer compound, on endogenous metabolic profiles of liver and plasma from hyperlipidemic Syrian golden hamsters. Hyperlipidemia was successfully established in hamsters fed by a high-fat diet for 2 weeks. The hyperlipidemic hamsters were treated with an oral administration of simvastatin (2 mg kg^− 1) or cordycepin (140 mg kg^− 1) for consecutive 4 weeks. The metabolic profiles of plasma and intact liver tissues were established using ¹H NMR spectroscopy. The results showed higher contents of lipids (triglyceride and cholesterol), lactate, acetate, alanine, glutamine together with lower contents of choline-containing compounds (e.g. phosphocholine, phosphatidylcholine, and glycerophosphocholine), glucose, and glycogen in plasma and liver samples from hyperlipidemic hamsters than those in controls. Cordycepin afforded a little lipid-regulating activity on plasma but more beneficial effects on liver, implicating that cordycepin might have a protective effect on liver under fatty liver condition.

Keywords:

• hyperlipidemia
• nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy
• metabonomics
• hyperlipidemic hamsters
• cordycepin

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor Ping Zhu from the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, China, for providing cordycepin. This study was supported by grants from the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (NSFC, Grant Numbers: 30873063, 30973527) and the Natural Sciences Foundation of Beijing (Grant Numbers: 7092068, 7102115). The authors are also grateful to the grants from National S&T Major Project (Grant Numbers: 2009ZX09301-003, 2009ZX09103-034, 2009ZX09303-003, 2009ZX09311-004, 2008ZX09401).