The effects of COST on the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and the mechanism of action

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to explore the effect of COST (one thousand Da molecular weight chitosan oligosaccharide) on the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and to determine the mechanism of action. 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were used as the target cells, and the induction of the methods for the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes was based on classic cocktails. The MTT assay was used to filtrate the concentration of COST. On the 6th day of induced-differentiation, the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells was detected by Oil Red O staining. The expression of PPARγ and C/EBPα mRNA was determined using real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (Q-PCR). COST inhibited 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation in a dose-dependent manner and decreased lipid accumulation. At the molecular level, the expression of the transcription factors, PPARγ and C/EBPα, was reduced by COST during adipogenesis. These results indicate that COST effectively inhibited the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. The mechanism is related to the down-regulation expression of PPARγ and C/EBPα.