Effects of Paramylon Extracted from Euglena gracilis EOD-1 on lipid metabolism in the Ileum and Liver in Diet-Induced Obese Mice Analyzed by DNA Microarray.

We have previously shown that paramylon (PM) supplementation to a high fat diet reduces the postprandial glucose rise, serum total and LDL-cholesterol, and abdominal fat accumulation in mice; however, the mechanism has not been determined. We evaluated the potential mechanism in male C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat diet supplemented with 5% PM powder, extracted from Eu-glena gracilis, for 12 weeks. Abdominal fat weight, and serum lipids were measured; ileal and hepatic mRNA expression were assessed using DNA microarray and real-time PCR. The poten-tial mechanism of PM on modulating lipid metabolism was explored by gene ontology (GO) classification and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis. Dietary supplementation with PM resulted in decreased abdominal fat accumulation and serum LDL-cholesterol concentrations via suppression of the digestion and absorption pathway in the ileum and activation of the hepatic PPAR signaling pathway. Improvement in glucose tolerance may be the result of lipid metabolism modification because the glucose metabolism pathway was not detected by GO classification and KEGG pathway analysis. PM intake also directly enhanced immunoglobulin production. High-fat model mice were fed paramylon or control diet (cellulose) for 12 weeks, and ileum and liver were collected after dissection. Total RNA in each organs were extracted by using protocol of RNeasy Mini kit. The resultant single-strand cDNA was fragmented and labeled with biotin. cDNA were hybridized to the GeneArray Mouse 2.0ST Array. The arrays were washed, stained and scanned using the Affymetrix 450 Fluidics Station and GeneChip Scanner 3000 7G according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. The arrays were washed, stained and scanned using the Affymetrix 450 Fluidics Station and GeneChip Scanner 3000 7G according to the manufacturer’s recommendations.