Extract of Wax Gourd Peel Prevents High-Fat Diet-Induced Hyperlipidemia in C57BL/6 Mice via the Inhibition of the PPARγ Pathway

Wax gourd is a popular vegetable in East Asia. In traditional Chinese medicine, wax gourd peel is used to prevent and treat metabolic diseases such as hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. However, there is no experimental evidence to support these applications. Here, we examined the effect of the extract of wax gourd peel (EWGP) on metabolic disorders in diet-induced C57BL/6 obese mice. In the preventive experiment, EWGP blocked body weight gain and lowered serum total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), liver TG and TC contents, and fasting blood glucose in mice fed with a high-fat diet. In the therapeutic study, we induced obesity in the mice and treated with EWGP for two weeks. We found that EWGP treatment reduced serum and liver triglyceride (TG) contents and fasting blood glucose and improved glucose tolerance in the mice. Reporter assay and gene expression analysis showed that EWGP could inhibit peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) transactivities and could decrease mRNA levels of PPARγ and its target genes. We also found that HMG-CoA reductase (HMGCR) was downregulated in the mouse liver by EWGP. Our data suggest that EWGP lowers hyperlipidemia of C57BL/6 mice induced by high-fat diet via the inhibition of PPARγ and HMGCR signaling.