Hericium erinaceus Protein Alleviates High-Fat Diet-Induced Hepatic Lipid Accumulation and Oxidative Stress In Vivo

Dietary interventions with food-derived natural products have emerged as a promising strategy to alleviate obesity. This study aims to investigate the anti-obesity effect of Hericium erinaceus protein (HEP) and its underlying mechanism. Our results demonstrated that HEP exhibited excellent radical scavenging activity in vitro. In vivo, HEP intervention reduced pancreatic lipase activity in the intestine and enhanced fat excretion, thereby inhibiting the absorption of dietary fats. Meanwhile, HEP ameliorated the body weight and organ indexes, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, hepatic steatosis, and liver oxidative stress injuries in obese mice. The results of real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot analyses indicated that HEP upregulated the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα), subsequently upregulated the expression of liver fatty acid oxidation-related genes (lipoprotein lipase (LPL), carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1a (CPT-1a), and acyl-CoA oxidase 1 (ACOX1)) and downregulated the expression of lipogenesis-related genes (sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c), stearoyl-coenzyme A desaturase 1 (SCD-1), and fatty acid synthase (FASN)), thereby ameliorating lipid metabolism disorders. Therefore, these findings demonstrated that HEP exerted protective effects on lipid metabolism disorders by activating the PPARα pathway, indicating its potential as a dietary supplement for the prevention and amelioration of obesity.