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Isolation and identification of two galangin metabolites from rat urine and determination of their <i>in vitro</i> hypolipidemic activity


Xuguang Zhang
Shouqian Cheng
Hailong Li
Xiaopo Zhang
Feng Chen
Youbin Li
Junqing Zhang
Yinfeng Tan

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the lipid-lowering activity of two metabolites of galangin, namely, galangin-3-O-β-D-glucuronic acid (GG-1) and galangin-7-O-β-D-glucuronic acid (GG-2).
Methods: Female Sprague-Dawley rats were orally administered with galangin. The two metabolites of galangin were isolated from urine sample and purified using Sephadex LH-20 and semi-preparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The structures of the metabolites were identified by analyzing spectroscopic data. Hypolipidemic activity was evaluated in HepG2 cells. The down- or upregulation of lipogenic genes was detected using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
Results: Both metabolites of galangin showed hypolipidemic activity. These  activities are closely associated with the down-regulation of lipogenic genes such as SREBP-1a, SREBP-1c, and SREBP-2 transcription factors, and the downstream genes such as FAS, ACC, and HMGR were revealed by realtime qPCR data.
Conclusion: The results show that both metabolites possess better lipid-lowering activities than galangin. These hypolipidemic activities are closely associated with inhibiting key genes or proteins that regulated the biosynthesis of both cholesterol and triglycerides.

Keywords: Galangin, Galangin-3-O-β-D-glucuronic acid, Galangin-7-O-β- D-glucuronic acid, Hypolipidemic, Lipogenic genes, Metabolites


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eISSN: 1596-9827
print ISSN: 1596-5996