Chitosan, a natural polysaccharide comprising copolymers of glucosamine and N-acetylglucosamine, has been shown to have anti-obesity properties. Two experiments (Exp. 1 and Exp. 2) were performed to determine the role of chitosan on dietary intake, body weight gain, and fat deposition in a pig model, as well as identifying potential mechanisms underlying the anti-obesity effect of chitosan. In Exp. 1, the nutrient digestibility experiment, 16 pigs (n = 4/treatment) were randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments as follows: 1) basal diet; 2) basal diet plus 300 ppm chitosan; 3) basal diet plus 600 ppm chitosan; 4) basal diet plus 1200 ppm chitosan. The main observation was that crude fat digestibility was lower in the 1200 ppm chitosan group when compared with the control group (P<0.05). In Exp. 2, a total of 80 pigs (n = 20/treatment) were offered identical dietary treatments to that offered to animals in Exp. 1. Blood samples were collected on day 0, day 35 and at the end of the experiment (day 57). Animals offered diets containing 1200 ppm chitosan had a lower daily dietary intake (P<0.001) and body weight gain (P<0.001) from day 35 to 57 when compared with all the other treatment groups. Animals offered diets containing 1200 ppm chitosan had a significantly lower final body weight (P<0.01) when compared with all the other treatment groups. The decreased dietary intake observed in the 1200 ppm chitosan group was associated with increased serum leptin concentrations (P<0.001) and a decrease in serum C-reactive protein (CRP) concentrations (P<0.05). In conclusion, the results of this study highlight novel endocrine mechanisms involving the modulation of serum leptin and CRP concentrations by which chitosan exhibits anti-obesity properties in vivo.
References
[1]
Kumar SG, Rahman MA, Lee SH, Hwang HS, Kim HA, et al. (2009) Plasma proteome analysis for anti-obesity and anti-diabetic potentials of chitosan oligosaccharides in ob/ob mice. J Proteomics 9: 2149–2162.
[2]
Spurlock ME, Gabler NK (2008) The development of porcine models of obesity and the metabolic syndrome. J Nutr 138: 397–402.
[3]
Yun JW (2010) Possible anti-obesity therapeutics from nature- A review. Phytochemistry 71: 1625–1641.
[4]
Han LK, Kimura Y, Okuda H (1999) Reduction in fat storage during chitin-chitosan treatment in mice fed a high-fat diet. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 23: 174–179.
[5]
Sumiyoshi M, Kimura Y (2006) Low molecular weight chitosan inhibits obesity induced by feeding a high-fat diet long-term in mice. J Pharm Pharmacol 58: 201–207.
[6]
Baldrick P (2010) The safety of chitosan as a pharmaceutical excipient. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 56: 290–299.
Thanou M, Verhoef JC, Junginger HE (2001) Oral drug absorption enhancement by chitosan and its derivatives. Adv Drug Del Rev 52: 117–126.
[9]
Deuchi K, Kanauchi O, Imasato Y, Kobayashi E (1995) Effect of the viscosity or deacetylation degree of chitosan on fecal fat excreted from rats fed on a highfat diet. Biosci, Biotechnol, Biochem 59: 781–785.
[10]
Zhang J, Liu J, Li L, Xia W (2008) Dietary chitosan improves hypercholesterolemia in rats fed high-fat diets. Nutr Res 28: 383–390.
[11]
Rahman MA, Kumar SG, Yun JW (2010) Proteome analysis in adipose tissue of ob/ob mice in response to chitosan oligosaccharides treatment. Biotechnol Bioprocess Eng 15: 559–571.
[12]
Bahar B, O'Doherty JV, Sweeney T (2011) A potential role of IL-6 in the chito-oligosaccharide-mediated inhibition of adipogenesis. Br J Nutr 106: 1142–1153.
[13]
Lau DCW, Dhillon B, Yan H, Szmitko PE, Verma S (2005) Adipokines: Molecular links between obesity and atheroslcerosis. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 288: H2031–H2041.
[14]
Kershaw EE, Flier JS (2004) Adipose tissue as an endocrine organ. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 89: 2548–2556.
[15]
O' Shea CJ, Sweeney T, Lynch MB, Callan JJ, O' Doherty JV (2011) Modification of selected bacteria and markers of protein fermentation in the distal gastrointestinal tract of pigs upon consumption of chitosan is accompanied by heightened manure odor emissions. J Anim Sci 89: 1366–1375.
[16]
NRC (1998) Nutrient Requirements of Swine, 10th ed. Washington, DC, USA: National Academy Press.
[17]
Varley PF, Sweeney T, Ryan MT, O'Doherty JV (2011) The effect of phosphorus restriction during the weaner-grower phase on compensatory growth, serum osteocalcin and bone mineralization in gilts. Livest Sci 135: 282–288.
[18]
Department of Agriculture and Food I (1994) European Communities (pig carcass grading) (amendment) Regulations. SI 216. Stationary Office, Dublin.
[19]
Close WH (1994) Feeding new genotypes: Establishing amino acid/energy requirements. In: Cole DJA, Wiseman J, Varley MA, editors. Principle of Pig Science. Loughborough, Leics, UK: Nottingham University Press 123–140.
[20]
Santacruz A, Marcos A, Warnberg J, Marti A, Martin-Matillas M, et al. (2009) Interplay between weight loss and gut microbiota composition in overweight adolescents. Obesity 17: 1906–1915.
[21]
Leser TD, Amenuvor JZ, Jensen TK, Lindecrona RH, Boye M, et al. (2002) Culture-independent analysis of gut bacteria: The pig gastrointestinal tract microbiota revisited. Appl Environ Microbiol 68: 673–690.
[22]
Stecher B, Robbiani R, Walker AW, Westendorf AM, Barthel M, et al. (2007) Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium exploits inflammation to compete with the intestinal microbiota. PLoS Biol 5: 2177–2189.
[23]
Pédron T, Sansonetti P (2008) Commensals, bacterial pathogens and intestinal inflammation: An intriguing ménage à trois. Cell Host Microbe 3: 344–347.
[24]
Van Soest PJ, Robertson JB, Lewis BA (1991) Methods for dietary fiber, neutral detergent fiber and nonstarch polysaccharides in relation to animal nutrition. J Dairy Sci 74: 3583–3597.
[25]
(1998) Determination of crude oils and fats, procedure B - Total crude oils and fats. Official Journal of the European Communities, L257/23.
[26]
SAS (2004) SAS users guide. 9.1.2 ed. Cary, NC, USA: SAS Institue Inc.
[27]
Littell R, Miliken G, Stroup W, Wolfinger R (1996) SAS system for mixed models. SAS Institue Cary, NC.
[28]
Bray GA (2000) A concise review on the therapeutics of obesity. Nutrition 16: 953–960.
[29]
Egras AM, Hamilton WR, Lenz TL, Monaghan MS (2011) An evidence-based review of fat modifying supplemental weight loss products. J Obes 2011: 297–315.
[30]
Gades MD, Stern JS (2003) Chitosan supplementation and fecal fat excretion in men. Obesity 11: 683–688.
[31]
Zeng L, Qin C, Wang W, Chi W, Li W (2008) Absorption and distribution of chitosan in mice after oral administration. J Carbohydr Polym 71: 435–440.
[32]
Koide SS (1998) Chitin-chitosan: Properties, benefits and risks. Journal of Nutrition Research 18: 1091–1101.
[33]
Coleman RA, Herrmann TS (1999) Nutritional regulation of leptin in humans. Diabetologia 42: 639–646.
[34]
Marshall S, Garvey W, Traxinger R (1991) New insights into the metabolic regulation of insulin action and insulin resistance: role of glucose and amino acids. The FASEB Journal 5: 3031–3036.
[35]
Considine RV, Cooksey RC, Williams LB, Fawcett RL, Zhang P, et al. (2000) Hexosamines regulate leptin production in human subcutaneous adipocytes. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 85: 3551–3556.
[36]
Hirano S, Akiyama Y (1995) Absence of a hypocholesterolaemic action of chitosan in high-serum-cholesterol rabbits. J Sci Food Agric 69: 91–94.
[37]
Lee K-Y, Shibutani M, Takagi H, Arimura T, Takigami S, et al. (2004) Subchronic toxicity study of dietary N-acetylglucosamine in F344 rats. Food Chem Toxicol 42: 687–695.
[38]
Berg AH, Scherer PE (2005) Adipose tissue, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease. Circul Res 96: 939–949.
[39]
Van Gaal LF, Mertens IL, De Block CE (2006) Mechanisms linking obesity with cardiovascular disease. Nature 444: 875–880.
[40]
Heilbronn LK, Noakes M, Clifton PM (2001) Energy restriction and weight loss on very-low-fat diets reduce C-reactive protein concentrations in obese, healthy women. Atertio Thromb Vasc Biol 21: 968–970.
[41]
Papanicolaou DA, Wilder RL, Manolgas SC, Chrousos GP (1998) The pathophysiologic roles of interleukin 6 in human disease. Ann Intern Med 128: 127–137.
[42]
Antuna-Puente B, Feve B, Fellahi S, Bastard JP (2008) Adipokines: The missing link between insulin resistance and obesity. Diabetes Metab 34: 2–11.
[43]
Maachi M, Pieroni L, Bruckert E, Jardel C, Fellahi S, et al. (2004) Systemic low-grade inflammation is related to both circulating and adipose tissue TNF-α, leptin and IL-6 levels in obese women. Int J Obesity 28: 993–997.
[44]
Moze？ ？, Bujňáková D, ？ef？íková Z, Kme？ V (2008) Intestinal microflora and obesity in rats. Folia Microbiol 53: 225–228.
[45]
？andek-Potokar M, ？lender B, Lefaucheur L, Bonneau M (1998) Effects of age and/or weight at slaughter on longissimus dorsi muscle: Biochemical traits and sensory quality in pigs. Meat Sci 48: 287–300.
[46]
Latorre MA, Lázaro R, Valencia DG, Medel P, Mateos GG (2004) The effects of gender and slaughter weight on the growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality characteristics of heavy pigs. J Anim Sci 82: 526–533.
[47]
Tan B, Yin Y, Liu Z, Li X, Xu H, et al. (2009) Dietary L-arginine supplementation increases muscle gain and reduces body fat mass in growing-finishing pigs. Amino Acids 37: 169–175.
[48]
Sauvant D, Perez JM, Tran G (2004) Table of Composition and Nutritional Value of Feed Materials. Pigs, Poultry, Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Rabbits, Horses, Fish. The Netherlands: Wageningen Academic Publishers.
