Cocoa protective effects against abnormal fat storage and oxidative stress induced by a high-fat diet involve PPAR alpha signalling activation

摘要

A high-fat (HF) diet increases lipid storage and oxidative stress in mouse liver and this process seems to be mediated by Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor alpha (PPAR alpha). In this study we evaluated the protective effect of cocoa against hepatic steatosis induced by a HF diet. The HF diet down-regulated PPAR alpha expression and turned off PPAR alpha-signalling, deregulated the beta-oxidation (beta-Ox) system and catalase (CAT) activity, increased fat storage, reduced expression of enzymatic activity involved in oxidative defence in the liver and doubled the weight gain per calorie consumed compared to animals under the normal diet. In contrast, cocoa improved hepatic beta-Ox, activated PPAR alpha-signalling and up-regulated both gene and protein expression of SOD1. Moreover, when co-administered with the HF diet, cocoa treatment counteracted lipid storage in the liver, improved the lipid-metabolizing activity and oxidative stress defences and normalized the weight gain per calorie consumed