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ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2069-2708
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Food Science
Degree Type
Master of Science (M.S.)
Year Degree Awarded
2021
Month Degree Awarded
May
Abstract
Fisetin, a flavanol with anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-aging properties, has shown promise for reducing fat accumulation in tissue culture and animal models. This plant sourced compound has limited studies supporting its effects on fat accumulation. Therefore, this study was completed to determine fisetin’s role in fat reduction along with its mechanism of action using Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans is a small roundworm with roughly 65% of its genes being conserved in humans related to disease. In this study, 100 and 200 µM fisetin has shown to reduce fat accumulation in wild-type worms. Body size, locomotion, and pumping rate were assessed in wild-type worms to determine if fisetin modified worm size, speed, and feed behavior, respectively. Mutant strains were tested to elucidate a potential pathway, of which tub-1 knockout mutants failed to reduce fat accumulation after fisetin treatment, suggesting this gene’s involvement. Gene expression of tub-1 was not altered by fisetin treatment, suggesting potential post-transcriptional regulation of fisetin. This study serves as an introduction to fisetin’s fat reducing effects via a tub-1 dependent mechanism.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/22407141.0
First Advisor
Yeonhwa Park
Recommended Citation
Rodriguez, Nikolas J., "Fat Lowering Effects of Fisetin in Caenorhabditis elegans" (2021). Masters Theses. 1084.
https://doi.org/10.7275/22407141.0
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/1084