Effects of dietary berberine on growth performance, lipid metabolism, antioxidant capacity and lipometabolism-related genes expression of AMPK signaling pathway in juvenile black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) fed high-fat diets

• Published in: Fish physiology and biochemistry Vol. 49; no. 5; pp. 769 - 786
• Main Authors: Ming, Jian-Hua, Wang, Ting, Wang, Ting-Hui, Ye, Jin-Yun, Zhang, Yi-Xiang, Yang, Xia, Shao, Xian-Ping, Ding, Zhong-Ying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-10-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abnormalities; Animal Anatomy; Animal Biochemistry; Animal Physiology; Antioxidants; Berberine; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carp; CD36 antigen; Diet; Fatty acid-binding protein; Fish; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Freshwater fishes; Gene expression; Genes; Growth; High fat diet; Histology; Juveniles; Life Sciences; Lipid metabolism; Lipids; Lipogenesis; Lipolysis; Liver; Metabolism; Morphology; Mylopharyngodon piceus; Oxidative stress; Serum; Signal transduction; Sterol regulatory element-binding protein; Survival; Zoology; Antioxidant capacity; Berberine; Lipid metabolism; AMPK signaling pathway
• ISSN: 0920-1742; 1573-5168
• DOI: 10.1007/s10695-022-01143-8

This study aimed to investigate the effects of high-fat diet (HFD) supplemented with berberine on growth, lipid metabolism, antioxidant capacity and lipometabolism-related genes expression of AMPK signaling pathway in juvenile black carp (
Mylopharyngodon piceus
). Five hundred and forty healthy fish (4.04 ± 0.01 g) were randomly distributed into six groups, and fed six experimental diets: normal-fat diet (NFD, 5% fat), HFD (15% fat), and four HFDs supplemented with graded levels of berberine, respectively. The results showed that, compared with fish fed NFD, HFD had no effects on the growth of fish except for reducing survival rate, whereas HFD caused extensive lipid accumulation, oxidative stress injury and hepatic abnormalities. However, compared with the HFD group, fish fed HFD containing an appropriate berberine (98.26 or 196.21 mg/kg) improved the growth performance, increased hepatic lipid metabolism and antioxidant enzymes activities, and up-regulated the mRNA expression levels of
ampk
subunits and lipolysis genes such as
pparα
,
cpt-1
,
acox
,
atgl
and
hsl
(
P
 < 0.05). Meanwhile, HFD supplemented with an appropriate berberine reduced crude lipid contents in liver and whole-body, decreased serum lipid contents, and ALT and AST activities, and down-regulated the mRNA expression levels of lipogenesis genes such as
srebp-1
,
acc1
,
gpat
,
fas
and
pparγ
, and lipid transporter genes such as
fatp
,
fabp
and
fat/cd36
(
P
 < 0.05). Thus, HFD supplemented with an appropriate berberine could improve growth of black carp, promote lipid metabolism and enhance antioxidant capacity. The lipid-lowering mechanism of berberine might be mediated by activating AMPK pathway, up-regulating lipolysis genes expression, and down-regulating lipogenesis and transport genes expression.