Evaluation of Beneficial and Adverse Effects of a Diet Supplemented with Schisandrae Fructus Seed Ethanol Extract on Lipid and Glucose Metabolism in Normal and Hypercholesterolemic/Hyperglycemic Mice

Schisandrae Fructus (SF), the fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baillon, has been used for the treatment of liver injury and metabolism-related disorders in China. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of supplementation with ethanol extract of SF seed (EtSF-S) on serum/hepatic lipid and glucose levels as well as fecal total cholesterol (TC) contents in mice fed a normal diet (ND) or high-fat/fructose diet (HFFD) containing 15% lard oil and 15% fructose. Female ICR mice (18–20 g in body weight) were fed with ND or HFFD for 3 months, and then EtSF-S was added to both chow diets at increasing concentrations of 1, 5, and 10% (w/w). Thirty days later, serum and hepatic lipids, including TC, triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and glucose, were measured. Dietary supplementation with EtSF-S reduced hepatic TC (36 and 18%) and TG levels (38 and 28%) and increased serum HDL/LDL ratio (16 and 26%) in both ND- and HFFD-fed mice, respectively. Moreover, supplementation with EtSF-S elevated serum HDL (31%) in HFFD-fed mice and reduced serum LDL (27%) in ND-fed mice. EtSF-S treatment reduced fat mass (40%) in ND-fed mice and increased fecal TC contents (33%) in HFFD-fed mice. EtSF-S supplementation decreased hepatic glucose contents (29%) in both ND- and HFFD-fed mice. However, diet supplemented with EtSF-S elevated serum TG levels (up to 123%) and hepatic size (28%), but more importantly, suppressed the body weight gain (approximately 130%) in mice fed with HFFD. These findings suggested that dietary supplementation with EtSF-S as natural herbal function food may be a useful strategy for the treatment of patients with fatty liver disease or overweight without a high intake of sugar and fat.