Antrodia cinnamomea Prevents Obesity, Dyslipidemia, and the Derived Fatty Liver via Regulating AMPK and SREBP Signaling

Antrodia cinnamomea (AC), a protogenic fungus that only grows on the heartwood of endemic Cinnamomum kanehirae Hayata in Taiwan, is used to treat a variety of illness including liver disease. However, little is known about the benefit of AC against obesity and the related hepatic disorder. Using high-fat-diet (HFD) feed mice, we aimed to investigate whether the extract of AC (ACE) could reduce excessive weight, body fat, and serum lipids and prevent the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD). C57BL/6 mice were divided into five groups fed with different diets: control, HFD, and HFD with 0.5%, 1%, or 2% of ACE, respectively. After 10 weeks the animals were sacrificed, with serum and liver collected. HFD-induced elevation of body weight gain, body fat deposition, and serum free fatty acid (FFA), triacylglycerol (TGs), total cholesterol, and ratio of LDL cholesterol (LDL-C)/HDL cholesterol (HDL-C), were significantly restored by ACE. ACE reduced aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and hepatic lipid deposits increased by HFD. ACE increased p-AMP activated protein kinase (pAMPK) but decreased Sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP), fatty acid synthase (FAS), 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (AGPAT), and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMGCoA) reductase. The chemical analysis reveals ACE is full of triterpenes, the most abundant of which is Antcin K, followed by sulphurenic acid, eburicoic acid, antcin C, dehydrosulphurenic acid, antcin B, and propanoic acid. In conclusion, ACE should be used to prevent obesity and derived fatty liver. The applicability of ACE on NAFLD deserves further investigation.