Anti-obesity effect of Melandrium firmum Rohrbach extract in 3T3-L1 cells and high-fat diet-induced obese C57BL/6N mice.

In this study, we first investigated the influence of Melandrium firmum Rohrbach (MF) on the accumulation of lipid content in 3T3-L1 cells and in vitro results showed that MF extraction suppressed the differentiation of 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes in a concentration-dependent manner without showing cytotoxicity. Hence, we studied the effects of MF on preventing obesity in C57BL/6N mice. The results showed that MF decreased food efficiency ratio, body weight, epididymal adipose and hepatic tissue weight, hepatic lipid metabolites, and triacylglycerol and cholesterol serum levels, when compared with the high-fat diet group. Moreover, MF significantly inhibited the expression of genes related to adipogenesis, such as PPAR-γ, C/EBP-α, and aP2, and those related to lipogenesis, such as SREBP-1c, FAS, SCD-1, and CD36 in epididymal adipose and liver tissues. These anti-adipogenic and anti-lipogenic effects of MF suggest that it could be used as a food including potential functional ingredient to prevent high-fat diet-induced obesity.