Effect of Spirulina lipids on high-fat and high-sucrose diet induced obesity and hepatic lipid accumulation in C57BL/6J mice

Obesity is characterized by abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that impairs health. In this study, the effects of Spirulina lipids (SL) and fish oil (FO) on obesity and hepatic lipid accumulation in high-fat and high-sucrose diet induced obese C57BL/6J mice were evaluated and compared. After 12 weeks of feeding, 4% gamma-linolenic acid-enriched SL supplementation effectively reduced the gain of body weight, total white adipose tissue (WAT) weight and hepatic lipid levels in obese mice. Although dietary 4% FO also tended to suppress the increases of body weight and WAT weight in mice, no statistical difference was observed. The suppression of hepatic lipid accumulation by SL should be through regulating sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), SREBP-2-mediated triacylglycerol and cholesterol synthesis pathway as well as via enhancement of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPAR alpha)-mediated beta-oxidation. These findings firstly confirmed that SL could alleviate diet-induced obesity and hepatic lipid accumulation