Effects of Pu-erh Tea on the Intervention of Obesity and Protection of Liver in Rats

Sprague dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into normal-diet control group,high-fat diet control group,and three levels groups (each group with 10 rats) treated with high (1.35 g/kg),medium (0.90 g/kg) and low (0.45 g/kg) hot water extracts from Pu-erh tea. The rats were lavaged every day for continuous administration for 12 weeks. After fasted for 24 h,the rats were sacrificed and the livers were used as materials. The contents of triglyceride (TG) and cholesterol (TC),the expression levels of phosphorylated adenosine monophosphate (AMP) -activated protein kinase (p-AMPK) protein and the mRNA related to lipid metabolism were determined for study Pu-erh tea's roles on intervention of obesity and protection of liver. The results showed that Pu-erh tea could reduce the contents of TG and TC,improving the level of AMPK phosphorylation (p<0.05),up-regulating the mRNA levels of FAS,SREBP-1c and HMGCR (p<0.01). The effects were in dose-dependent characteristics. Therefore,Pu-erh tea had good functions of preventing obesity and protecting liver.