Oral L-theanine administration promotes fat browning and prevents obesity in mice fed high-fat diet associated with the modulation of gut microbiota. (June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: He, Jia; Chen, Jun; He, Qin; Li, Shuo; Jian, Li; Xie, Fei; Dong, Chao; Bai, Guangyi; Wang, Zirui; Zou, Tiande; You, Jinming
• Is Part Of: Journal of functional foods. Volume 81(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Subjects: L-theanine -- High-fat diet -- Adaptive thermogenesis -- Fat browning -- Gut microbiota; LTh L-theanine -- HFD high-fat diet -- LFD low-fat diet -- BAT brown adipose tissue -- WAT white adipose tissue -- sWAT subcutaneous white adipose tissue -- vWAT visceral white adipose tissue -- SCFAs short chain fatty acids -- T-CHO total cholesterol -- TG triglycerides -- ALT alanine aminotransferase -- AST aspartate aminotransferase -- GTT glucose tolerance test -- H&E Haematoxylin and Eosin -- qPCR quantitative polymerase chain reaction -- WB western blots -- Fas fatty acid synthase -- Srebp-1C sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c -- Acaca acetyl-CoA carboxylase α -- Scd1 stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 -- Pparα peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α -- Cpt-1α carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1α -- Pdk4 pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 -- Mcad medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase -- Ucp1 uncoupling protein 1 -- Prdm16 PR positive regulatory domain containing 16 -- Cidea cell death-inducing DFFA-like effector A -- Cox7a1 cytochrome c oxidase subunit VIIa polypeptide 1 -- Pgc-1α peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α -- Elovl3 elongation of very long-chain fatty acids protein 3 -- CD137 cluster of differentiation 137 -- Cyto C cytochrome c -- Tbx1 T-box 1 -- Tmem26 transmembrane protein 26; Functional foods -- Analysis -- Periodicals; Food -- Biotechnology -- Periodicals; Nutrition -- Periodicals; 613.2
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jff.2021.104476
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1756-4646

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: L-theanine (LTh) alleviated diet-induced obesity and hepatic steatosis in mice. LTh enhanced brown fat thermogenic activity and promoted white fat browning. LTh increased short-chain fatty acids (SCFA)-producing bacteria in feces. LTh increased the fecal SCFA contents in obese mice. The dominant bacterial taxa altered by LTh were related with improvement of obesity. Abstract: L-theanine (LTh), a unique nonproteinic amino acid of tea, is known to possess beneficial effects on diet-induced obesity. This study aimed to evaluate whether orally administrated LTh could improve the adaptive thermogenesis of high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice through regulating the composition of gut microbiota. Mice were fed control diet or a HFD with or without LTh for 12 weeks. Oral LTh administration ameliorated adiposity and hepatic steatosis in HFD mice. LTh increased the metabolic activities of brown fat and subcutaneous white fat by enhancing the expression of a series of thermogenic genes. More importantly, LTh improved the intestinal dysbiosis by decreasing the ratio of Firmicutes / Bacteroidetes, along with increases in the fecal short chain fatty acids concentrations. In conclusion, LTh ameliorates metabolic features of obesity by promoting fat browning and improving gut microbiota composition in HFD mice, which may be a mechanism of LTh-induced beneficial metabolic health.