Apo-12′-lycopenal, a Lycopene Metabolite, Promotes Adipocyte Differentiation via Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor γ Activation

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry 2018-12, Vol.66 (50), p.13152-13161
• Main Authors: Takahashi, Shingo, Waki, Naoko, Mohri, Shinsuke, Takahashi, Haruya, Ara, Takeshi, Aizawa, Koichi, Suganuma, Hiroyuki, Kawada, Teruo, Goto, Tsuyoshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.8b04736

Apo-lycopenals, lycopene metabolites produced by an initial cleavage by β,β-carotene-9′,10′-oxygenase, exhibit diverse biologically active effects. In this study, we investigated the effect of apo-lycopenals on the activation of nuclear receptors involved in glucose and lipid metabolism. Only apo-12′-lycopenal exhibited selective and dose-dependent transactivation activity for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), whereas neither apo-6′- nor apo-8′-lycopenals displayed this activity ((7.83 ± 0.66)-, (1.32 ± 0.10)-, and (1.31 ± 0.37)-fold higher activity relative to control, respectively). Additionally, apo-12′-lycopenal promoted adipocyte differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells and subsequently increased the mRNA levels of PPARγ (a (2.36 ± 0.07)-fold increase relative to control; p < 0.01) and its target genes, as well as enhanced adiponectin secretion (a (3.25 ± 0.27)-fold increase relative to control; p < 0.01) and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake (1486 ± 85 pmol/well; p < 0.001) in 3T3-L1 cells. Our results indicated that apo-12′-lycopenal promoted adipocyte differentiation by direct binding and activation of PPARγ.