Mechanism of polyphenol-pea starch complexes on reducing fat accumulation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Obesity is characterized by lipid metabolism disorders and excessive fat accumulation, imposing a significant burden on individuals and society. Polyphenol-pea starch (PS) complexes have shown considerable potential in alleviating fat accumulation, yet the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. This study investigated the effects and underlying mechanisms of gallic acid-PS (GAL-PS), ferulic acid-PS (FER-PS), quercetin-PS (QUE-PS), and tannic acid-PS (TAN-PS) complexes at a dosage of 1 mg/mL in reducing fat accumulation in Caenorhabditis elegans. The results revealed that GAL-PS, FER-PS, QUE-PS, and TAN-PS complexes significantly reduced triglyceride content in high-fat C. elegans by 38.61 %, 10.81 %, 18.60 %, and 25.78 %, respectively. Additionally, these polyphenol-PS complexes reduced both the size and number of lipid droplets in ZXW618, which are mutant expressing the lipid droplet membrane protein dehydrogenase-3 linked to GFP, and increased the proportions of unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidant activities in high-fat worms. Mechanistically, polyphenol-PS complexes regulated multiple lipid metabolism pathways via MDT-15/SBP-1 and MDT-15/NHR-49 signaling pathways, which include fat-5, fat-6, and fat-7, pod-2, fasn-1, and elo-2 genes modulated fat synthesis, acs-2, aak-2, tub-1, and skn-1 genes participated in fat consumption, and tub-1, and vit-2 regulated fat storage. Our findings provide a novel perspective and theoretical foundation for the reducing fat accumulation by polyphenol starch-based food biomacromolecules and their potential applications in starchy foods.