Materials
Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM), fetal bovine serum (FBS), and pen/ strep and trypsin EDTA were purchased from Gibco (Carlsbad, CA, USA). RNA extraction kit was purchased from GeneAll biotechnology (Seol, South Korea). The cDNA synthesis kit was purchased from Fermentas (Frickenhausen, Germany). SYBR Green PCR kit was purchased from Ampliqon (Denmark). Metformin and CGA were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA, USA). ACC, pACC, AMPK, and pAMPK primary antibodies were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology (Danvers, MA, USA). Mouse and rabbit secondary antibodies were purchased from Sigma–Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), bovine serum albumin (BSA) Phenyl methyl sulfonyl fluoride (PMSF), and anti-protease cocktail were purchased from Roche (Mannheim, Germany). ECL reagents were obtained from GE Healthcare Life Sciences (Piscataway, NJ, USA).
HepG2 cells culture and treatments
HepG2 cells were purchased from the Pasteur Institute of Iran and cultured in DMEM medium containing normal glucose (NG, 5.5 mM), 10% FBS, and 1% streptomycin-penicillin in a humid atmosphere containing 5% CO2. After reaching 70% confluence; the cells were seeded for subsequent evaluations in the corresponding plates. After an overnight fasting, HepG2 cells were exposed to the high concentration of D-glucose (HG, 33 mM) for 24 h to induce lipogenic condition. D-mannitol at 27.5 mM was used in the NG group as an osmotic control. The time and dose of glucose were selected from a previously published work (28). HepG2 cells were treated to selected concentrations of metformin and CGA similarly to HG-treated cells.
Cell viability assay
MTT assay was performed to measure the cytotoxic effects of the drugs. Briefly, HepG2 cells with a 2×104/well density were seeded in 96-well plates. After 24 h of drug treatment, cells were treated with 100 μL of MTT solution at a final concentration of 0.5 μg/ml PBS, for 4 hours at 37 ° C. The formazan crystals formed in living cells (indicating cell viability) were then dissolved in 100 μl DMSO, and the absorbance was read at 570 nm by a microplate reader (BioTek Instruments, Inc. Winooski, VT, USA).
Measurement of total lipid content by Oil Red O staining
Treated HepG2 cells (2×105/well in 24-well plates) were washed three times in cold PBS. Then cells were fixed with 4% formalin for 30 minutes at room temperature. The cells were stained with Oil Red O working solution (300 mg of oil red O powder dissolved in 150 mL of 60% Isopropanol) for 10 minutes. After washing the cells with distilled water, lipid particles were observed under the Olympus upright microscope, and images were captured using an Olympus camera mounted on the microscope. Quantitative analysis was done by adding 250 μL DMSO to each well. The absorbance of the red stain was read at 510 nm. Total lipid content was calculated by normalizing the results against total protein levels (μg/mg) determined by the bicinchoninic acid assay (BCA) method.
Determining triglyceride level
The pellet of treated cells (~107) was homogenized into 5% NP-40 (v/v), and slowly incubate at 80-100 °C in a water bath for 2-5 min. The heating was repeated twice to solubilize all triglycerides. The supernatant was transferred to a new tube after centrifugation at top speed for 2 min. Intracellular triglyceride levels were quantified using the Biovision triglyceride quantification Colorimetric/Fluorimetric kit (Biovision Inc, U.S) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Finally, normalized triglyceride concentrations were calculated relative to total protein levels (μg/mg) assessed by the BCA method.
Real-Time PCR
Total RNA content was extracted by the GeneAll kit. Complementary DNA (cDNA) was synthesized from 1µg of total RNA by RevertAid RT Reverse Transcription Kit. RT-PCR was performed using specific primers and SYBR Green on Applied Biosystems Real-Time PCR (Thermo Fisher Scientific, U.S). The transcription of the target genes was normalized to the expression of β-actin, and the relative levels of gene expression were quantified using the delta-delta CT method. The sequences of the primers were employed followed by: SREBP-1c sense 5′-CACCGAGAGCAGAGATGGC-3′ and antisense 5′-AAGGAGACGAGCACCAACAG-3′, FAS sense 5′-GAGGAAGGAGGGTGTGTTT-3′ and antisense 5′-CGGGGATAGAGGTGCTGA-3′, and β-actin sense 5′-TCCTTCCTGGGCATGGAGT-3′ and antisense 5′-ACTGTGTTGGCGTACAGGTC-3′ (Gene-FanAvaran, Tehran, Iran).
Western Blot analysis
HepG2 cells were lysed by RIPA buffer (25 mM Tris–HCl, pH 8, 1% Triton X-100, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate, 0.1% SDS, 5 mM EDTA, and 1 mM PMSF, 150 mM NaCl and 10 mM NaVO4). After measuring protein concentration by BCA kit, equal amounts (30 μg) of protein were subjected to SDS-PAGE electrophoresis. After transferring proteins to the PVDF membrane, the blocking was performed by TBST (containing 5% BSA). Blots were then incubated overnight at 4 °C with primary antibodies against β-actin, ACC, pACC, AMPK, pAMPK. After three times washing with TBST, membranes were incubated for 1 h with secondary antibodies at room temperature. The bands were visualized using an enhanced chemiluminescent substrate. Finally, the densitometry analysis of the blots was carried out using NIH image J software.
Statistical analyzes
All statistical analyzes were performed using GraphPad Prism 6 software. The comparison between the groups was done by one-way ANOVA and the comparison between two independent groups was performed by unpaired T-test. The values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. The results were presented as Mean ± SD, derived from at least three independent tests.
The half maximal inhibitory concentration values (IC50) and median effective doses (ED50) were calculated using CompuSyn software (ComboSyn Inc, Paramus, NJ, USA). CompuSyn analysis was also used for the assessment of drug interactions according to the Chou-Talalay method (29). Combination index (CI) < 1, CI = 1, or CI > 1 is corresponding to the effect of synergism, additivity, or antagonism, respectively.