Trans-Caryophyllene is a natural agonistic ligand for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α

Chunyan Wu, Yaoyao Jia, Ji Hae Lee, Hee Jin Jun, Hae Seung Lee, Kwang Yeon Hwang, Sung Joon Lee

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    43 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Intake of dietary aroma compounds may regulate cellular lipid metabolism. We demonstrated that trans-caryophyllene, a flavor compound in plant foods and teas, activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α through direct interaction with the ligand-binding domain of PPAR-α. The agonistic activity of trans-caryophyllene was investigated by the luciferase reporter assay, surface plasmon resonance, and time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer assay. Following the stimulation of cells with trans-caryophyllene, intracellular triglyceride concentrations were significantly reduced by 17%, and hepatic fatty acid uptake was significantly increased by 31%. The rate of fatty acid oxidation was also significantly increased. The expressions of PPAR-α and its target genes and proteins in fatty acid uptake and oxidation were significantly up-regulated as well. In HepG2 cells transfected with small interfering RNA of PPAR-α, the effects of trans-caryophyllene on PPAR-α responsive gene expressions, intracellular triglyceride, fatty acid uptake and oxidation were disappeared. These results indicate that the aroma compound, trans-caryophyllene, is PPAR-α agonist thus regulates cellular lipid metabolism in PPAR-α dependent manners.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)3168-3174
    Number of pages7
    JournalBioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters
    Volume24
    Issue number14
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014 Jul 15

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This work was supported by Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (No. 2013R1A2A2A01016176 ), and a grant ( 14162MFDS973 ) from Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2014. The SPR instrument was provided by the Korea Basic Science Institute . We thank Professor Hyun-Gyu Song for the advice on FRET analysis.

    Keywords

    • Hepatocyte
    • Lipid metabolism
    • PPAR-α
    • trans-Caryophyllene

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Biochemistry
    • Molecular Medicine
    • Molecular Biology
    • Pharmaceutical Science
    • Drug Discovery
    • Clinical Biochemistry
    • Organic Chemistry

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