Effect of Phenolic Acids and Flavonoids on Low Dose Caffeine-Induced Adipogenesis and Oxidative Stress in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes

Obesity is characterised by an excessive build-up of lipids and triglycerides in adipocytes. Phenolic acids and flavonoids have previously been shown to inhibit body weight increase and fat buildup in mice. This study investigated the anti-obesity effect of phenolics, syringic (SYA) and sinapic acid (SIA) and flavonoids hesperidin (HD) and chrysin (CR) along with caffeine (CAF) on 3T3-L1 cells. Anti-obesity on 3T3-L1 adipocytes was evaluated by MTT assay, ORO staining, TG quantification and NBT assay. 100 mu mol CAF exhibited adipogenesis, lipogenesis and ROS accumulation which was reduced with combinations of SYA, SIA, HD and CR in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, CAF + SYA/SIA/HD/CR inhibited the mRNA expression of PPAR gamma, C/EBP alpha and SREBP-1c in mature adipocytes. Taken together, these preliminary data demonstrate that these phytocompounds prevent CAF-induced adipogenesis. These phytocompounds can be exploited further to study the in vitro and in vivo anti-adipogenic mechanism in combination with caffeine.