The α' subunit of β-conglycinin and various glycinin subunits of soy are not required to modulate hepatic lipid metabolism in rats

Hypolipidemic Effects of Soy Protein and Isoflavones in the Prevention of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease- A Review

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease and affects about 25% of the population globally. Obesity and diabetes are the main causes of the disease characterized by excessive accumulation of lipids in the liver. There is currently no direct pharmacological treatments for NAFLD. Dietary intervention and lifestyle modification are the key strategies in the prevention and treatment of the disease. Soy consumption is associated with many health benefits such as decreased incidence of coronary heart disease, type-2 diabetes, atherosclerosis and obesity. The hypolipidemic functions of soy components have been shown in both animal studies and human clinical trials. Dietary soy proteins and associated isoflavones suppressed the formation and accumulation of lipid droplets in the liver and improved NAFLD-associated metabolic syndrome. The molecular mechanism(s) underlying the effects of soy components are mainly through modulation of transcription factors, sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1 and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ2, and expressions of their target genes involved in lipogenesis and lipolysis as well as lipid droplet-promoting protein, fat-specific protein-27. Inclusion of appropriate amounts of soy protein and isoflavones in the diets might be a useful approach to decrease the prevalence of NAFLD and mitigate disease burden.

Potential functionality of β-conglycinin with subunit deficiencies: soy protein may regulate glucose and lipid metabolism

3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes were used to reveal the impact of subunit-deficient β-conglycinin on cell proliferation, cell adipogenesis, and proteomic expression, and to gain insight into the potential of subunit-deficient β-conglycinin's functional characteristics.

Effects of dietary active soybean trypsin inhibitors on pancreatic weights, histology and expression of STAT3 and receptors for androgen and estrogen in different tissues of rats

Our previous study showed that soy milks could contain high levels of active soybean trypsin inhibitors (SBTI) if they were not properly processed. This study investigated the effects of consuming active SBTI on pancreatic weights, histology, trypsinogen production and expression of STAT3, receptors for androgen (AR) and estrogen (ER) in pancreas, liver and uterus of rats. Weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups (8 females and 8 males/group) and fed diets containing either 20% casein protein (Casein) or 20% soy protein (SP) in the presence of high (1.42 BAEE unit/µg, SP + SBTI) or low (0.2 BAEE unit/µg, SP-SBTI) levels of active SBTI for 8 weeks. Ingestion of SP + SBTI diet markedly increased pancreatic weights and trypsinogen content (p < 0.01), and caused acinar cell hypertrophy, and reduced pancreatic STAT3, p-STAT3, AR and ERβ content, and increased uterine ERα and ERβ compared to the Casein or SP-SBTI diets (p < 0.05). The two SP-containing diets lowered hepatic STAT3, p-STAT3, and pancreatic ERα, and increased hepatic ERα and ERβ content in the female rats compared to the Casein diet (p < 0.05). This study demonstrated for the first time that consumption of high level of active SBTI not only increased pancreatic weights and acinar cell secretions, but also attenuated the expression of pancreatic STAT3, p-STAT3, AR, and ERβ proteins in both sexes and increased uterine ERα and ERβ content, and that dietary soy protein affected hepatic STAT3, p-STAT3, ERα and ERβ in a gender-dependent manner.

Regulation of Intestinal Inflammation by Soybean and Soy-Derived Compounds

Environmental factors, particularly diet, are considered central to the pathogenesis of the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. In particular, the Westernization of diet, characterized by high intake of animal protein, saturated fat, and refined carbohydrates, has been shown to contribute to the development and progression of IBD. During the last decade, soybean, as well as soy-derived bioactive compounds (e.g., isoflavones, phytosterols, Bowman-Birk inhibitors) have been increasingly investigated because of their anti-inflammatory properties in animal models of IBD. Herein we provide a scoping review of the most studied disease mechanisms associated with disease induction and progression in IBD rodent models after feeding of either the whole food or a bioactive present in soybean.

β-Conglycinin induces the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps dependent on NADPH oxidase-derived ROS, PAD4, ERK1/2 and p38 signaling pathways in mice

β-Conglycinin is one of the key thermostable anti-nutritional factors in soybean, which has strong immunogenicity that usually leads to weaning in some young animals such as piglets and calves and allergic reaction in rats. Neutrophils are involved in the pathogenesis of an allergy. However, the contribution of functional neutrophils to allergy needs to be clarified. The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps is a novel effector mechanism of neutrophils and has been extensively investigated in recent years. To the best of our knowledge, there is no information available on β-conglycinin-induced NETs. In this study, β-conglycinin-induced NET formation in mice was examined via immunofluorescence analysis and fluorescence microplate reader. The mechanism of β-conglycinin-induced NETs was investigated using inhibitors and fluorescent microplate methods. The results showed that β-conglycinin induced the classical characteristics of NETs, which mainly consist of DNA as the backbone and decorated with histones, myeloperoxidase (MPO) and neutrophil elastase (NE). Moreover, β-conglycinin significantly induced the formation of NETs in a dose-dependent way. NET degrading enzyme DNase I markedly reduced β-conglycinin-induced NETs, which suggests that β-conglycinin indeed triggered the release of NETs. Further investigation showed that the quantitation of NETs was markedly decreased by the inhibitors of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-derived-NADPH oxidase, ERK1/2, p38, Rac and PAD4 signaling pathways, indicating the crucial role of these signaling pathways in β-conglycinin-induced NETs. Furthermore, our findings revealed that β-conglycinin induced the formation of NETs, which is dependent on NADPH oxidase-derived ROS, ERK1/2, p38, Rac and PAD4 signaling pathways. This study is the first to demonstrate the underlying mechanisms of β-conglycinin-induced NET formation, and it could be helpful to understand diarrhea caused by β-conglycinin overexposure in young animals and provides the corresponding theoretical basis for clinical applications.

Dietary L-lysine supplementation altered the content of pancreatic polypeptide, enzymes involved in glutamine metabolism, and β-actin in rats

This study investigated the effects of Lys supplementation on serum pancreatic polypeptide (PP), glutamine (Gln) levels and the expression of PP, Gln synthetase (GlnS), glutaminase (Gls) and β-actin in different tissues such as pancreas, skeletal muscle, liver and kidney in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets containing 7% casein supplemented with either 0% (Control), 1%, 1.5%, 3% Lys or 3% Lys with 1.5% Arg for a week. All rats were necropsied for collection of blood and tissues. Expression of PP, GlnS, Gls, and β-actin in tissues were determined using Western blotting. The results showed that the rats fed 3% supplemental Lys had significantly lower body weight gain (BWG) and food intake than the ≤ 1.5% Lys groups (P < 0.05). Supplementation with ≥ 1% Lys increased serum PP level (P < 0.05), but had no significant effect on pancreatic PP abundance (P > 0.05). GlnS expression was significantly lowered in skeletal muscle by ≥ 1.5% supplemental Lys compared to the Control (P < 0.05). The expression of Gls in the kidney was increased by the addition of 1.5% Arg to 3% Lys diet (P < 0.05). Liver β-actin significantly increased with both Lys and Arg supplementation and muscle β-actin significantly decreased (P < 0.05) with ≥ 1.5% supplemental Lys. Kidney β-actin significantly increased with Arg supplementation vs 3% Lys alone (P < 0.05). These results showed that dietary supplementation with ≥ 1.5% Lys significantly suppressed GlnS expression in the skeletal muscle, which may contribute to the decreased serum Gln levels, and that increased serum PP by Lys may be due to suppressed catabolism rather than increased synthesis of PP. Lys-induced PP may play a role in reducing food intake and BWG.