Effects of kombucha administration on endoplasmic reticulum stress in obese rats fed with a high-fat diet

Obesity emerges as a metabolic disease that is increasingly increasing in the world and in our country. The fact that Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) stress and sensors are increased in many metabolic disorders such as obesity, insulin resistance and Type 2 Diabetes has brought to the agenda that interventions that can reduce ER-stress may have therapeutic value in the treatment of these diseases. It is thought that kombucha, which is known to have effects on various health factors, may have possible benefits on obesity due to its effects such as weight loss, hypolipidemic effect associated with lipase inhibition and, as a result, restriction of calorie intake. Therefore, our study aimed to determine the effects of kombucha on ER stress in obese rats fed a high-fat diet. In our study, 50 Wistar albino male rats, aged 8-12 weeks, were used. The rats were divided into 4 groups: control group, kombucha group, group made obese with high-fat diet (HFD), and kombucha-administered group after being obese with HFD (HFD+kombucha). Kombucha was administered orally at a dose of 5ml/kg for 5 weeks to one of the groups of rats, which were obese with a high-fat diet for the first 10 weeks. At the end of the study, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, glucose, ALT and AST values from the blood serum of the rats were analyzed. It was determined that the weight gain of the groups applied kombucha was less than the other groups. Expression levels of p-IRE1, ATF6, eIF2a, p-eIF2a, Total JNK, p-JNK and GRP78 proteins were examined in the liver tissues of rats by western blot method. As a result, although there was no statistically significant difference in the expression levels of p-IRE1, ATF6, p-JNK, Total JNK, p-JNK/Total JNK, Total eIF2a, p-eIF2a, p-eIF2a/Total eIF2a and GRP78 with kombucha administration to obese rats fed a high-fat diet, a numerical decrease was observed. Based on this, as a result of our study, it was determined that kombucha has positive effects on ER stress.