{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,11,4]],"date-time":"2026-11-04T22:08:20Z","timestamp":1793830100050,"version":"4.6.1"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,17]],"date-time":"2020-04-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1587081600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003712","name":"Korea Food Research Institute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["E0143073645"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["E0143073645"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003712","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Shikonin, a natural plant pigment, is known to have anti-obesity activity and to improve insulin sensitivity. This study aimed to examine the effect of shikonin on hepatic steatosis, focusing on the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and energy expenditure in Hepa 1-6 cells and in high-fat fed mice. Shikonin increased AMPK phosphorylation in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and inhibition of AMPK with compound C inhibited this activation. In an oleic acid-induced steatosis model in hepatocytes, shikonin suppressed oleic acid-induced lipid accumulation, increased AMPK phosphorylation, suppressed the expression of lipogenic genes, and stimulated fatty acid oxidation-related genes. Shikonin administration for four weeks decreased body weight gain and the accumulation of lipid droplets in the liver of high-fat fed mice. Furthermore, shikonin promoted energy expenditure by activating fatty acid oxidation. In addition, shikonin increased the expression of PPAR\u03b3 coactivator-1\u03b1 (PGC-1\u03b1), carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (CPT1) and other mitochondrial function-related genes. These results suggest that shikonin attenuated a high fat diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease by stimulating fatty acid oxidation and energy expenditure via AMPK activation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu12041133","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,21]],"date-time":"2020-04-21T04:49:38Z","timestamp":1587444578000},"page":"1133","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":32,"title":["Shikonin Attenuates Hepatic Steatosis by Enhancing Beta Oxidation and Energy Expenditure via AMPK Activation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"So Young","family":"Gwon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Food Functionality Research, Korea Food Research Institute, Wanju 55365, Korea"},{"name":"Department of Law Policy Research, National Food Safety Information Service, Seoul 110-750, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jiyun","family":"Ahn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Food Functionality Research, Korea Food Research Institute, Wanju 55365, Korea"},{"name":"Division of Food Biotechnology, University of Science &amp; Technology, Daejeon 305-350, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chang Hwa","family":"Jung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Food Functionality Research, Korea Food Research Institute, Wanju 55365, Korea"},{"name":"Division of Food Biotechnology, University of Science &amp; Technology, Daejeon 305-350, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"BoKyung","family":"Moon","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Food and Nutrition, Chung-Ang University, Anseong 456-756, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7583-9490","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tae-Youl","family":"Ha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Food Functionality Research, Korea Food Research Institute, Wanju 55365, Korea"},{"name":"Division of Food Biotechnology, University of Science &amp; Technology, Daejeon 305-350, Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,4,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"399","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1572-0241.2006.01041.x","article-title":"Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in severely obese subjects","volume":"102","author":"Gholam","year":"2007","journal-title":"Am. 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