Characterizing Eckol as a Therapeutic Aid: A Systematic Review

Manandhar, Bandana; Paudel, Pradeep; Seong, Su Hui; Jung, Hyun Ah; Choi, Jae Sue

High food intake in the absence of exercise leads to obesity [126, 127] contributing to the growth in metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular diseases, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease [127] [128] [129] . In order to investigate the significance of E. cava on body weight, fat content, and hyperglycemia in obese mice, they were fed with extracts (200 mg/kg) of E. cava collected from Jeju (J-CA) or Gijang (G-CA) after 3 weeks of high-fat diet (HFD) induction. High-performance liquid chromatography revealed both G-CA (4.72 mg/g) and J-CA (12.98 mg/g) to be rich in eckol. The G-CA-HFD mice showed lower body weight and little weight gain (40% decrease), reduced ALT and cholesterol levels, significantly increased mRNA levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ2, C/EBPα and sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBP)-1C (adipogenic-related transcription factors), higher fatty acid synthase (FAS) as compared to PBS-HFD mice and J-CA-HFD mice, whereas the plasma glucose level showed a decrease in J-CA-HFD and G-CA-HFD as compared to PBS-HFD. Due to the relationship between obesity and T2DM with chronic inflammation, the expression of inflammatory cytokines, TNF-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and the macrophage marker F4/80 was elevated in PBS-HFD mice as compared with the normal chow mice. The G-CA-HFD mice significantly decreased all the above inflammatory factors as compared to PBS-HFD mice. The increase in hepatic lipid while HFD feeding caused the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver conditions. Therefore, the lipid content in frozen liver sections was assessed with an obvious increase in lipid droplet accumulation in the PBS-HFD mice. In comparison to PBS-HFD mice, there was a decrease in lipid droplet and triglyceride content in G-CA-HFD and J-CA-FD mice. Also, the mRNA expression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1), FAS, and SREBP-1c (genes related to lipid metabolism) significantly decreased in the G-CA-HFD mice in comparison to the PBS-HFD mice [78] .