Puerin III alleviates glucose and lipid metabolism disorders in high-fat high-sucrose diet-induced hyperlipidemic and hyperglycemic ApoE-/- mice

Pu-erh tea as a popular post-fermented tea displays a significant effect on improving metabolic syndrome. Puerin III (P3) had already been identified as the characteristic chemical constituent in pu-erh tea. Nevertheless, the activity of P3 on glucose and lipid metabolism disorder is still unclear. In this study, the high-fat high-sucrose diet-induced ApoE(-/-& nbsp;)mice model was employed to assess the effects of P3 in vivo. Our study found that P3 dose dependently ameliorated the plasma total cholesterol and fasting blood glucose (FBG) in the hypercholesterolaemic and hyperglycemic ApoE(-/-& nbsp;)mice. Our investigation in vitro revealed P3 decreased the FBG by inhibiting alpha-glucosidase. The study on HepG2 cells also confirmed that P3 promoted the clearance of cholesterol by increasing the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) expression. This research illustrated that P3 might be the active ingredient of Pu-erh tea and a promising therapeutic option to treat glucose and lipid metabolism disorders.