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Punicalagin Attenuates Palmitate‐Induced Lipid Droplet Content by Simultaneously Improving Autophagy in Hepatocytes
Author(s) -
Korovila Ioanna,
Jung Tobias,
Deubel Stefanie,
Grune Tilman,
Ott Christiane
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
molecular nutrition and food research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.495
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1613-4133
pISSN - 1613-4125
DOI - 10.1002/mnfr.202000816
Subject(s) - autophagy , lipotoxicity , lipid droplet , perilipin , steatosis , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , inducer , flux (metallurgy) , biochemistry , biology , apoptosis , endocrinology , adipose tissue , adipocyte , gene , insulin resistance , organic chemistry , insulin
Scope Several studies show that excessive lipid intake can cause hepatic steatosis. To investigate lipotoxicity on cellular level, palmitate (PA) is often used to highly increase lipid droplets (LDs). One way to remove LDs is autophagy, while it is controversially discussed if autophagy is also affected by PA. It is aimed to investigate whether PA‐induced LD accumulation can impair autophagy and punicalagin, a natural autophagy inducer from pomegranate, can improve it. Methods and results To verify the role of autophagy in LD degradation, HepG2 cells are treated with PA and analyzed for LD and perilipin 2 content in presence of autophagy inducer Torin 1 and inhibitor 3‐Methyladenine. PA alone seems to initially induce autophagy‐related proteins but impairs autophagic‐flux in a time‐dependent manner, considering 6 and 24 h PA. To examine whether punicalagin can prevent autophagy impairment, cells are cotreated for 24 h with PA and punicalagin. Results show that punicalagin preserves expression of autophagy‐related proteins and autophagic flux, while simultaneously decreasing LDs and perilipin 2. Conclusion Data provide new insights into the role of PA‐induced excessive LD content on autophagy and suggest autophagy‐inducing properties of punicalagin, indicating that punicalagin can be a health‐beneficial compound for future research on lipotoxicity in liver.