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Inhibitory effects of baicalin in the early stage of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes differentiation by down-regulation of PDK1/Akt phosphorylation

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Abstract

Baicalin is a flavonoid derived from the root of Scutellaria baicalensis and exhibits a broad spectrum of biological activities including anti-adipogenesis. However, the inhibitory role of baicalin in the early stage of 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation relevant to the signaling up-stream of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR-γ) and CCAAT/enhancer binding proteins (C/EBPs) expression is unclear, and is the subject of the present investigation. We used 3T3-L1 preadipocytes for adipocyte differentiation, Oil Red-O staining for the intracellular lipid accumulation assay, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for assaying the expression of major adipocyte transcription factors. We found that baicalin markedly suppressed the Akt phosphorylation in early stage of adipocytes differentiation. In addition, we observed that baicalin and LY294002 (as an inhibitor of Akt phosphorylation) significantly inhibited adipocyte differentiation by down-regulating several adipocyte-specific transcription factors, including PPAR-γ and C/EBPs in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Furthermore, we observed that baicalin significantly suppressed the Akt phosphorylation by inhibiting phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1 (PDK1). These results indicate that the anti-adipogenesis effect of baicalin involves down-regulation of major transcription factors in 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation including PPAR-γ, C/EBP-β, and C/EBP-α through the down-regulation of PDK1/Akt phosphorylation.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the Grant K13050 awarded to Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM) from Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), Korea.

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  1. Traditional Korean Medicines (TKM)-Based Herbal Drug Research, Herbal Medicine Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, 305-811, Republic of Korea

    Dong Hoon Kwak, Ji-Hye Lee, Kwang Hoon Song & Jin Yeul Ma

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  1. Dong Hoon Kwak
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Correspondence to Jin Yeul Ma.

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Kwak, D.H., Lee, JH., Song, K.H. et al. Inhibitory effects of baicalin in the early stage of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes differentiation by down-regulation of PDK1/Akt phosphorylation. Mol Cell Biochem 385, 257–264 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-013-1834-0

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