Indole-3-carbinol suppressed inflammation-associated factors in mice fed with high-fat diet and in cocultured cells

This study was aimed at investigating the effects of indole-3-carbinol (I3C), a cruciferous vegetable derivative, on obesity-associated macrophage infiltration and inflammatory changes in animals and in cocultured cells. Male C57BL/6 mice were fed with high fat (HF) diet and HF diet + i.p. I3C (HFI) for 12 wk, and epididymal adipose tissue was collected for detection of the macrophage marker, F4/80. The results showed that I3C suppressed the HF diet-induced macrophage infiltration in adipose tissue. To obtain the further insight of I3C on obesity-associated inflammation, murine primary adipocytes were co-cultured with RAW 264.7 macrophages, and the effects of I3C on inflammatory mediators, including nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), were analyzed. The results indicated that I3C attenuated the productions of NO, MCP-1, and IL-6 in co-cultured medium, suppressed inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression, but enhanced peroxisome proliferator...