Dietary supplementation with chitosan derived from mushrooms changes adipocytokine profile in diet-induced obese mice, a phenomenon linked to its lipid-lowering action.

Recent data reported that chitosan reduces high-fat (HF) diet-induced obesity in mice without describing the metabolic consequences of such an effect. The aim of this study was to investigate the capacity of chitosan derived from edible mushrooms to modify adipocytokine levels and to assess the relevance of this effect on the development of fat mass, and on glucose and lipid metabolism in obese mice. Mice were fed a HF diet or a HF diet supplemented with 5% fungal chitosan for ten weeks. HF-induced hypertriglyceridaemia, fasting hyperinsulinaemia and fat accumulation in liver, muscle and white adipose tissue (WAT) were reduced after chitosan treatment. The higher lipid content in the caecum following treatment with chitosan suggested that this dietary fiber reduced lipid absorption. We postulated that the lower triglyceridaemia observed upon chitosan treatment could also be the result of the lower FIAF (fasting-induced adipose factor) expression observed in visceral adipose tissue. IL-6, resistin and leptin levels decreased in the serum after chitosan supplementation. We conclude that fungal chitosan counteracts some inflammatory disorders and metabolic alterations occurring in diet-induced obese mice since it decreases feed efficiency, fat mass, adipocytokine secretion and ectopic fat deposition in the liver and the muscle.