Taiwanofungus camphorate activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors and induces hypotriglyceride in hypercholesterolemic rats

Taiwanofungus camphoratus (T. camphoratus), a fungus
and a Taiwan-specific, well-known traditional
Chinese medicine, has long been used to treat diarrhea,
hypertension, itchy skin, and liver cancer. To gain a
large amount of T. camphoratus, several culture techniques
have been developed, including solid-state culture
and liquid-state fermentation. Peroxisome proliferator-
activated receptor gamma (PPAR) has been
described as a hypoglycemic agent that increases insulin
sensitivity in peripheral tissues and results in reduced
blood glucose, insulin, and triglyceride levels in insulinresistant
animals and in type-2 (non-insulin-dependent)
diabetic patients. In this study, we investigate the
possibility that T. camphoratus might activate PPAR
in vitro and hypolipidemic activity in vivo. The results
show that an aqueous extract of the wild fruiting bodies
of T. camphoratus was able to increase the PPAR
activity in cells transfected with the PPAR expression
plasmid and the AOx-TK reporter plasmid. Based on
the cell experiment, we examined the hypolipidemic
effect of wild fruiting bodies (WFT) and a solid-state
culture (SST) of T. camphoratus on SD rats fed on a
high-cholesterol (HC) diet. The results show that WFT
significantly decreased the serum triglyceride level, but
could not affect the cholesterol level. SST only slightly
decreased the serum triglyceride level. In addition, both
WFT and SST significantly decreased the serum alanine
transaminase (ALT) level and protected against the
liver damage induced by the HC diet from the results of
a histological examination. These results suggest that
T. camphoratus might contain PPAR ligands and result
in a hypotriglyceridemic effect, and that it also exhibits
a liver protective activity.
Key words: Taiwanofungus camphoratus; peroxisome
proliferator-activated receptor; triglyceride;
glucose