Modulation of lipid metabolism by deep-sea water in cultured human liver (HepG2) cells

It has been found that deep-sea water was associated with lower serum lipid in animal model studies. Herein, we investigated whether DSW exerted a hypolipidemic activity and further elucidated how DSW modulated lipid metabolism in HepG2 cells. Preliminary animal studies showed that DSW exhibited potency to decrease serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol, and increase HDL cholesterol, and the hepatic lipid contents were also significantly lower in the DSW group. When DSW was added to HepG2 cells, it decreased the lipid contents of hepatocyte through the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase, thus inhibiting the synthesis of cholesterol and fatty acid. Besides, LDL receptor was upregulated by activation of sterol regulatory element-binding protein-2. In addition, the levels of apolipoprotein AI and cholesterol 7-alpha-hydroxylase were also raised. Our investigation provided mechanisms by which DSW modulated lipid metabolism and indicated that DSW was worthy of further investigation and could be developed as functional drinking water in the prevention and treatment of hypolipidemic and other lifestyle-related diseases.