The protective effects of Ginsenoside-Rg3 on lipopoly saccharide-induced suppression of brown and beige a dipose thermogenesis

Abstract

Ginsenoside Rg3 is the main component of Korean Red Ginseng (steamed Panax ginseng CA Meyer). Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is an important regulator of energy homeostasis to control obesity. Obesity is regarded as low-grade inflammation in adipose tissue, so finding the antiinflammatory and immunomodulatory agents in white and BAT is a new challenge for obesity management. Rg3 is well known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-metabolic properties. However, it is unknown whether Rg3 protects against inflammation-induced browning inhibition or BAT activation. To answer this question, we used the primary culture of BAT as a BAT cell model and 3T3-L1 adipocytes or primary culture of Subcutaneous (SubQ) fat treated with cAMP analog were used for beige adipocyte cell models. Although Rg3 did not enhance brown adipogenesis, Rg3 reversed the attenuation of browning in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated beige adipocytes and primary brown adipocytes by recovering uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and oxygen consumption rate compared to the LPS-treated group. We confirmed the protective effects of Rg3 against inflammation-induced inhibition of beige and BAT-derived thermogenesis in the animal model. CL316,243 (beta-adrenergic receptor agonist) and LPS were used to induce browning and inflammation, respectively. In C57BL/6 mice, Rg3 treatment (2.5 mg/kg BW for 8 weeks) effectively reversed LPS-induced inhibition of brown adipocyte features and alleviated hypercholesterolemia. As a result, these findings support the notion that Rg3-rich foods can act as browning agents to combat chronic inflammation and metabolic complications.