Abstract
Lipid metabolism disorders are a major cause of several chronic metabolic diseases which seriously affect public health. Salusin‑α, a vasoactive peptide, has been shown to attenuate lipid metabolism disorders, although its mechanism of action has not been reported. To investigate the effects and potential mechanisms of Salusin‑α on lipid metabolism, Salusin‑α was overexpressed or knocked down using lentiviral vectors. Hepatocyte steatosis was induced by free fatty acid (FFA) after lentiviral transfection into HepG2 cells. The degree of lipid accumulation was assessed using Oil Red O staining and by measuring several biochemical indices. Subsequently, bioinformatics was used to analyze the signaling pathways that may have been involved in lipid metabolism disorders. Finally, semi‑quantitative PCR and western blotting were used to verify the involvement of the liver kinase B1 (LKB1)/AMPK pathway. Compound C, an inhibitor of AMPK, was used to confirm this mechanism's involvement further. The results showed that Salusin‑α significantly attenuated lipid accumulation, inflammation and oxidative stress. In addition, Salusin‑α increased the levels of LKB1 and AMPK, which inhibited the expression of sterol regulatory element binding protein‑1c, fatty acid synthase and acetyl‑CoA carboxylase. The addition of Compound C abrogated the Salusin‑α‑mediated regulation of AMPK on downstream signaling molecules. In summary, overexpression of Salusin‑α activated the LKB1/AMPK pathway, which in turn inhibited lipid accumulation in HepG2 cells. This provides insights into the potential mechanism underlying the mechanism by which Salusin‑α ameliorates lipid metabolism disorders while identifying a potential therapeutic target.