Steaming Changes the Composition of Saponins of (Burk.) F.H. Chen That Function in Treatment of Hyperlipidemia and Obesity.

Saponins of (Burk.) F.H. Chen have been classified as a type of composition in functional foods for numerous diseases. However, its mild effects and other characteristics limited clinical applications in diseases. Inspired by "nine steaming and nine processing" of in traditional Chinese medicine, we developed a "steaming"-mimic protocol, which significantly changed the composition of saponins of from the original, R1, Rg1, Re, Rb1, and Rd (raw-PNS), to the products after steaming, 20/-Rh1, Rk3, Rh4, 20/-Rg3, Rk1, and Rg5 (N-PNS). Surprisingly, N-PNS demonstrated promising activities in improving hyperlipidemia and reducing body weight and weight of white adipose tissue and the inhibition of adipogenesis in obese mice. In accordance with the results , N-PNS remarkably blunted adipogenesis at the early stage of differentiation dose-dependently . Moreover, we demonstrated that the activity may involve the adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway by promoting phosphorylation of AMPK and downregulating its downstream factors: sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c, stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1, and fatty acid synthase. Taken together, the steaming-induced eight compositions of saponins showed a very promising function in improving hyperlipidemia and obesity both and , providing fundamental evidence for future study and application in treatment of hyperlipidemia, obesity, and other lipid-related metabolic syndromes.