Li-Juan Ma,
Xu-Dong Hou,
Xiao-Ya Qin,
Rong-Jing He,
Hao-Nan Yu,
Qing Hu,
Xiao-Qing Guan,
Shou-Ning Jia,
Jie Hou,
Tao Lei,
Guang-Bo Ge
2022, 12(4): 683-691.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpha.2022.04.002
Abstract:
Although herbal medicines (HMs) are widely used in the prevention and treatment of obesity and obesity-associated disorders, the key constituents exhibiting anti-obesity activity and their molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Recently, we assessed the inhibitory potentials of several HMs against human pancreatic lipase (hPL, a key therapeutic target for human obesity), among which the root-extract of Rhodiola crenulata (ERC) showed the most potent anti-hPL activity. In this study, we adopted an integrated strategy, involving bioactivity-guided fractionation techniques, chemical profiling, and biochemical assays, to identify the key anti-hPL constituents in ERC. Nine ERC fractions (retention time=12.5-35 min), obtained using reverse-phase liquid chromatography, showed strong anti-hPL activity, while the major constituents in these bioactive fractions were subsequently identified using liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF-MS/MS). Among the identified ERC constituents, 1,2,3,4,6-penta-O-galloyl-β-d-glucopyranose (PGG) and catechin gallate (CG) showed the most potent anti-hPL activity, with pIC50 values of 7.59 ±0.03 and 7.68 ±0.23, respectively. Further investigations revealed that PGG and CG potently inhibited hPL in a non-competitive manner, with inhibition constant (Ki) values of 0.012 and 0.082 μM, respectively. Collectively, our integrative analyses enabled us to efficiently identify and characterize the key anti-obesity constituents in ERC, as well as to elucidate their anti-hPL mechanisms. These findings provide convincing evidence in support of the anti-obesity and lipid-lowering properties of ERC.