| Summary: | The recent rise in obesity is tightly associated with an increase in diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hepatic steatosis. Ramalin, isolated from the Antarctic lichen Ramalin terebrata , has been known to have various biological activities including anti‐inflammatory activity. However, other biological activities of ramalin remain unknown. We examined the anti‐obesity effect of ramalin in five week‐old mice that were fed either a control high‐fat diet (HFD), or HFD with oral administration 50 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg of ramalin for 8 weeks. Mice fed with ramalin showed 25% reduced body weight gain and ramalin treatment significantly inhibited epididymal fat‐pad weights compared with mice fed with HFD. Ramalin also reduced the levels of glucose, hepatic triglyceride, serum total, high‐density lipoprotein (HDL) and Low‐density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. ELISA assay revealed that ramalin remarkably inhibited HFD‐induced leptin cytokine level. Furthermore, Real time PCR assay showed that HFD‐induced adipose tissue genes, known as adipogenesis markers, were significantly suppressed by ramalin. Overall, these results suggest that ramalin might be a plausible candidate to control obesity and obesity‐related disorders.
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