Transcriptome analysis of diet-induced metabolic syndrome rats treated with ellagitannin geraniin. Rattus norvegicus breed:Sprague Dawley

Metabolic syndrome is a collection of interconnected risk factors including obesity, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and high blood pressure. Desirably, an effective pharmacotherapy for the medical condition should be able to target multiple risk factors concurrently. Based on our literature review and preliminary studies, ellagitannin geraniin, which is a polyphenolic compound, can confer many health benefits related to metabolic syndrome, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Thus, we aim to explore the molecular pathways of the natural product using transcriptomic analysis. As for the experimental design, Sprague Dawley rats were given starch-based control diet (CD) or high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 weeks to induce metabolic syndrome. Then, some of the rats from HFD group were treated with ellagitannin gerannin (25 mg/kg/day) via oral gavage for 4 weeks. Other rats from the CD and HFD groups were treated with vehicle (10% w/v glucose solution) via the same approach. At the end of the experiment, total RNA was isolated from the liver for sequencing to compare the transcriptomes between groups.

代谢综合征（metabolic syndrome）是一组相互关联的危险因素集合，涵盖肥胖、胰岛素抵抗、血脂异常与高血压。理想的该疾病治疗方案应能够同时靶向多种危险因素。基于本团队的文献调研与预实验结果，作为多酚类化合物的鞣花单宁香叶素（ellagitannin geraniin）可展现诸多与代谢综合征相关的健康益处，但其具体作用机制尚不明确。因此，本研究拟通过转录组分析手段，探究该天然产物发挥作用的分子通路。本实验的造模与给药方案如下：将斯普拉格-道利大鼠（Sprague Dawley rats，简称SD大鼠）分为两组，分别给予淀粉基对照饲料（control diet，缩写CD）与高脂饲料（high-fat diet，缩写HFD），持续8周以诱导代谢综合征模型。随后，将高脂饲料组中的部分大鼠予以鞣花单宁香叶素（25 mg/kg/天）经口灌胃处理，持续4周；其余来自对照组与高脂饲料组的大鼠，则以相同方式给予溶媒对照（10%重量体积比葡萄糖溶液）处理。实验结束时，从各组大鼠肝脏中提取总RNA并进行测序，以比较不同组间的转录组差异。