Research Progress in Theacrine / 中国药师

Theacrine is one kind of natural purine alkaloids, which mainly exists in an unusual Chinese tea known as Kucha. It shows various biological activities, such as anti-depression, sedative and hypnotic effects and anti-inflammatory and analgesic activi-ties. The study on theacrine dates back to a few decades ago. According to the references published in recent years, the resource, preparation, characterization and pharmacological effects of theacrine were reviewed, and its application prospect was also explored.

Theacrine ameliorates high fat diet induced hepatic steatosis in mice via SirT3/AMPK/ACC pathway / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the effects and mecha-nisms of theacrine on high fat diet induced hepatic steatosis in mice. Methods The C57BL/6J mice were fed with high fat diet for consecutive 17 weeks to induce hepatic steatosis and given a treatment of theac-rine for 6 weeks. The liver sections were stained with H&E or Sudan IV, and hepatic TG was determined by commercial analysis kits. Expression of SirT3 and phosphorylation of AMPK and ACC were measured by Western blot. Compound C was used to inhibit the phosphorylation of AMPK in HepG2 cells, and the ex-pressions of proteins were determined after the cells were treated with theacrine. Results Theacrine sig- nificantly decreased hepatic TG content and ameliora-ted hepatic steatosis in mice. Expression of SirT3 and phosphorylation of AMPK and ACC were up-regulated, respectively. And theacrine still could activate SirT3 and up-regulate the phosphorylation of ACC whatever AMPK was inhibited. Conclusions The activation of ACC by theacrine depends on the phosphorylation of AMPK, but the activation of SirT3 by theacrine is in-dependent of the phosphorylation of AMPK. Theacrine ameliorates high fat diet induced hepatic steatosis in mice probably via SirT3/ AMPK/ ACC pathway.