艾草萃取物改善代謝症候群及肝臟脂質堆積之研究

代謝症候群 (Metabolic syndrome) 為心血管疾病、第二型糖尿病相關因子，包含腹部肥胖、高血壓、高血糖、高三酸甘油脂與低高密度脂蛋白等臨床表徵。過去研究中發現艾草 (Artemisia argyi) 具有抗腫瘤、抗發炎等功能，但未發現有改善代謝症候群之研究，故本研究擬探討艾草萃取物 (Artemisia argyi extract, AAE) 對於代謝症候群之改善能力。先以高脂飲食(High fat diet, HFD) 合併鏈脲佐菌素(Streptozotocin, STZ) 誘發 BALB/c 小鼠作為代謝症候群之實驗動物模式，再以管餵給予 AAE 進行治療，並以辛伐他汀 (Simvastatin) 作為實驗對照組。犧牲後分析血清生化數值發現，相較於誘導組，AAE 試驗組之LDL-c 與 HDL-c 等皆有明顯改善。進一步將肝組織以病理組織切片染色發現，AAE 能減少肝臟中脂肪的堆積。接下來以細胞模式探討 AAE 對於減少肝臟細胞 HepG2 中的脂肪堆積作用，實驗結果發現 AAE 可降低 Oleic acid 與 Palmitic acid合併誘導 (為 Free fatty acid 組合，本研究簡稱為 FFA) 之HepG2 細胞脂肪堆積，結果與動物實驗相同。此外，動物實驗中也發現，AAE 具有降低血糖、提升胰島素分泌與減少尿蛋白之作用。總結，AAE 具有開發為改善代謝症候群保健食品之潛力。

Metabolic syndrome is a related factor of cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes, including abdominal obesity, hypertension, hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia and low high-density lipoprotein. In the previous studies, indicated that Artemisia argyi can reduce tumor incidence and inflammatory, but not much research on improving metabolic syndrome, therefore, we aimed to investigate the anti-metabolic syndrome effect of Artemisia argyi extract (AAE). First, in vivo study, the BALB/c mice fed with high fat diet (HFD) combined Streptozotocin (STZ) as an animal model of metabolic syndrome supplemented with AAE or Simvastatin as a clinical control. The serum biochemical values indicated that AAE can obviously imporve LDL-c and HDL-c. Further, the liver histology sections indicated that AAE can decrease the lipid accumulation. Next, in vitro, HepG2 cells were co-treated with Oleic acid, Palmitic acid (Free fatty acid, FFA) and AAE, indicated that can reduced lipid accumulation of hepatocytes. Besides, animal experiments also found that AAE can reduce blood sugar, increase insulin secretion and reduce urea albumin. Summary, AAE has the potential to be developed to improve metabolic syndrome health foods.