Anti-obesity effects of corn peptide on 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and C57BL/6J obese mice

ABSTRACT

Corn peptide (CP) is a small, natural, biologically active peptide obtained by protease-catalysed hydrolysis of corn. CP exerts antihypertensive, hypoglycaemic, antihyperlipidemic, antioxidant, and antitumor effects, as well as prevents cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Although CP plays a role in preventing obesity-related diseases, its role in reducing obesity has not yet been determined. In this study, we analysed the inhibitory effects of CP on lipid droplet accumulation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and high-fat diet (HFD)-induced C57BL/6J Obese Mice. The results show that CP could inhibit preadipocyte differentiation and oil accumulation in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Oral CP administration reduced serum triglyceride (TG) content, epididymal fat weight, abnormal liver fat droplet accumulation, and C/EBPα expression. Furthermore, combination of CP administration and exercise reduced body, liver, and adipose tissue weights; decreased serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels; and inhibited hepatic lipid droplet accumulations and epididymal fat cell hypertrophy. Additionally, this combination inhibited the expression of transcription factors, C/EBPα, C/EBPβ, and PPARγ, and adipogenic factors, FABP4 in mice. In conclusion, oral administration of CP inhibited lipid droplet accumulation and counteracted HFD-induced obesity in mice.

KEYWORDS:

• Corn peptide
• high-fat diet
• obesity
• 3T3-L1 preadipocytes
• C57BL/6J

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

Shanshan Zhang designed and performed the experiments, analysed the data, and wrote the manuscript. Lingzhe Kong and Ziqiu Jia harvested the tissue samples and performed the gene expression analysis. Shuli Shao, Lin Pan, and Weiyu Wang supervised the project. Yingning Sun conceptualised the project, designed the experiments, obtained funding support and critically revised the manuscript.

Data availability statement

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article. Further enquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Heilongjiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. YQ2019C025), and the Project of the Basic Business of Heilongjiang Provincial Education Department (grant No. YSTSXK201875).