Biological effect of β-(1,3)-polyglucuronic acid sodium salt on lipid storage and adipocytes differentiation

β-(1,3)-Polyglucuronic acid sodium salt produced by the regioselective oxidation of β-(1,3)-glucan have been studied for its biological impact as putative slimming agent. This β-(1,3)-polyglucuronic acid sodium salt was synthesized using the conventional 2,2,6,6,-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)/NaBr/NaClO systems at pH 10 and 4 °C. A transcriptomical study using DNA microarray analysis, demonstrated that this heparan like sodium salt locally induced an over-expression of the gene Angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4 or fasting induced adipose factor (FIAF)) leading to the increase in Adipokine ANGPTL4 synthesis and the inhibition of Lipoprotein Lipase (LPL). In vitro analysis using 3T3-L1 cells have clearly revealed that β-(1,3)-polyglucuronic acid sodium salt could act in key steps of lipid metabolism by inhibiting the differentiation of pre-adipocytes to mature adipocytes.