astaxanthine and Weight-Gain

Dietary astaxanthin (AST) exhibits the ability to resist lipid accumulation and stimulate hepatic autophagy. Natural AST predominantly exists in stable esterified forms. More importantly, in our previous study, docosahexaenoic acid-acylated AST monoester (AST-DHA) possessed better stability, bioavailability, and neuroprotective ability than AST in free and diester form. However, the AST-DHA mechanisms of action in regulating the obese phenotype and autophagy of the central nervous system remain unclear.. High-fat diet (HFD)-fed C57BL/6J mice were orally administered AST-DHA (50 mg/kg body weight/d) for 3 days or 8 weeks. AST-DHA supplementation alleviated HFD-induced abnormal body weight gain, significantly enhanced autophagy with an increased microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 II/I (LC3II/I) ratio, and reduced the accumulation of p62/sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1) in the hypothalamus rather than in the hippocampus. Mechanistically, AST-DHA effectively promoted autophagy and autophagosome formation, and most notably rescued the HFD-impaired autophagosome-lysosome fusion (indicated by the colocalization of LC3 and LAMP1) by regulating mTOR- and AMPK-induced phosphorylation of ULK1. Consequently, AST-DHA enhanced hypothalamic autophagy, leading to pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) cleavage to produce alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH).. This study identified AST-DHA as an enhancer of autophagy that plays a beneficial role in restoring hypothalamic autophagy, and as a new potential therapeutic agent against HFD-induced obesity. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Topics: Animals; Autophagy; Diet, High-Fat; Docosahexaenoic Acids; Hypothalamus; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Obesity; Weight Gain

The purpose of this study was to investigate if carotenoids could alleviate the adverse effects caused by aflatoxin with respect to growth performance and immune response. In two experiments, a total of 320 mule ducklings were assigned to 5 treatments, i.e. control, aflatoxin B(1) (AFB(1)) 200 ppb, AFB(1) +beta-carotene (BC) 200 ppm, AFB(1)+BC 400 ppm, and AFB(1)+astaxanthin (AS) 200 ppm. In experiment 1, the addition of beta-carotene or astaxanthin in the diet containing AFB(1) 200 ppb resulted in a significant decrease in average daily gain as compared with the control. AFB(1) 200 ppb alone and the addition of BC or AS on top of AFB(1) resulted in a significantly lower daily feed intake than for the control group. There were no significant differences in relative organ weights among treatment groups. Both treatments of BC 400 ppm and AS 200 ppm had significantly more macrophages harvested per duck than the control and AFB(1) 200 ppb treatments. However, there were no significant differences among treatments in percentages of phagocytotic macrophages and number of Candida albican phagocytized by phagocytotic macrophages. In experiment 2, blood biochemical parameters and antibody titers were evaluated. There were no significant differences among treatments in total bilirubin content and alkaline phosphatase activity in the serum or in antibody titers against fowl cholera. However, AFB(1) treatment had the highest activities of AST and ALT in the serum. The addition of BC 400 ppm on top of AFB(1) significantly reduced ALT activity as compared with the AFB(1) 200 ppb treatment. These results suggest that carotenoids could provide a slightly toxic alleviating effect on growth performance, enhance the chemotaxis ability of macrophages, and reduce ALT activity elevated by AFB(1).

Topics: Aflatoxin B1; Alanine Transaminase; Alkaline Phosphatase; Animal Feed; Animals; Antibodies, Bacterial; Antibody Formation; Aspartate Aminotransferases; beta Carotene; Bilirubin; Biomarkers; Candida albicans; Cholera Toxin; Ducks; Energy Intake; Macrophages; Organ Size; Phagocytosis; Reference Values; Weight Gain; Xanthophylls

Duplicate groups of Atlantic salmon post-smolts were fed four purified diets supplemented with both vitamin E and the carotenoid astaxanthin (Ax) (+E, +Ax), or supplemented with either vitamin E or Ax (-E, +Ax and +E, -Ax) or deficient in both vitamin E and Ax (-E, -Ax) for 22 wk. There were no effects of diet on growth rate, but an extensive lipoid liver degenerative lesion was observed in 15% of fish fed diets deficient in vitamin E. Tissue vitamin E concentrations varied in accordance with dietary vitamin E in liver, muscle, heart, plasma, brain and eye; levels were reduced to approximately 3% in liver but only to 40% in eye of fish fed diets deficient in vitamin E compared with those fed diets supplemented with vitamin E. An interactive sparing of Ax supplementation on tissue vitamin E concentration was observed, but only in brain. Dietary deficiency of both vitamin E and Ax significantly increased the recovery of desaturated and elongated products of both [1-(14)C] 18:3(n-3) and [1-(14)C] 20:5(n-3) in isolated hepatocytes, suggesting that conversion of fatty acids to their long-chain highly unsaturated products can be stimulated by a deficiency of lipid-soluble antioxidants. The antioxidant synergism of vitamin E and Ax was supported by their ability to reduce malondialdehyde formation in an in vitro stimulation of microsomal lipid peroxidation and to reduce plasma levels of 8-isoprostane. The results of this study suggest that both vitamin E and the carotenoid Ax have antioxidant functions in Atlantic salmon.

Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Antioxidants; Aquaculture; beta Carotene; Dietary Supplements; Dinoprost; F2-Isoprostanes; Fatty Acids; Oxidation-Reduction; Salmo salar; Vitamin E; Weight Gain; Xanthophylls

Farming of trout requires a finishing diet containing pigments such as astaxanthin and canthaxanthin so that they may achieve a pink tissue coloration similar to that of wild trout. The production of synthetic pigments is not enough so that the requirements of the aquaculture industry are not met, besides having a high cost. Thus, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the deposition of saponified and esterified chili (Capsicum annuum) extracts in the skin and muscle of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiis). The experiment consisted of three treatments with the inclusion in the finishing diet of saponified and esterified chili extracts and of astaxanthin, respectively. Each treatment was carried out with 150 organisms with an average weight of a 150 g and done in duplicate. The results showed that both the saponified and esterified chili extracts pigmented the skin and muscle of rainbow trout, although the pigmentation effect was less red than that produced by the astaxanthin control.

Topics: Animal Feed; Animals; Aquaculture; beta Carotene; Capsicum; Carotenoids; Esterification; Muscle, Skeletal; Oncorhynchus mykiss; Pigmentation; Plant Extracts; Plants, Medicinal; Skin; Skin Pigmentation; Weight Gain; Xanthophylls