Abstract:

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Garcinia cambogia extract on lipid metabolism parameters
and lipogenic gene mRNA expression in male rats. The results showed that dietary supplementation of Garcinia cambogia
extract could significantly decrease serum triglyceride content in rats (P < 0.05). High dose of Garcinia cambogia extract
could significantly reduce triglyceride content in the liver of rats (P < 0.05). No significantly difference was observed in
total cholesterol content in serum and liver tissue between Garcinia cambogia extract treatment groups and the control
group (P > 0.05). The expression of genes associated with lipid metabolism showed that high-dose Garcinia cambogia
extract treatment could significantly inhibit the mRNA expression levels of SREBP1c (P < 0.01) and ACL (P < 0.05),
while it could significantly increase the mRNA expression levels of ACO and ATGL (P < 0.05). PPARα and MCD mRNA
expression levels were higher in the middle- (P < 0.05) and high-dose Garcinia cambogia extract treatment groups (P < 0.01)
than that in the control group. High-dose Garcinia cambogia extract treatment could significantly promote the AMPKα1
and AdipoR-1 mRNA expression levels (P < 0.05), while having no effect on the adiponectin mRNA expression level
(P > 0.05). In conclusion, Garcinia cambogia extract can reduce the accumulation of body fat in rats due to the activation
of Adipo-AMPK signaling pathway, which can inhibit gene expression related to fatty acid synthesis and increase gene
expression related to fatty acid oxidation in the liver of rats.

Key words: Garcinia cambogia extract, hydroxycitric acid, lipid metabolism, adenosine 5’-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase