Abstract

In this study, the κ-carrageenan supplementation significantly reduced the gains in weight, fat mass, adipocyte size, fasting blood glucose as well as blood lipid in mice with high-fat diet. The investigation of the gene expression levels revealed that κ-carrageenan could improve high-fat diet induced obesity by the AMPK and PPARγ signaling pathway. The level of TNF-α and LPS in the LCGN group was significantly lower than that in the high-fat diet (HFD) group, while there were no significant difference in the HCGN group. The κ-carrageenan treatment was beneficial to the recovery of intestinal homeostasis in mice with high-fat diet, expecially LCGN. The abundance of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Lachnospiraceae, and Desulfovibrionaceae were positively correlated with body weight, fasting blood glucose (FBG), serum low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), total cholesterol (TC), and triglyceride (TG) levels. By contrast, Bacteroidetes were negatively correlated with LDL-c and TC levels, while positively with FBG.