The root of Paeonia lactiflora has been used in Chinese medicine. We conducted to check the comparative qualities of ethanol solvent extraction (PLE) and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction (PLS) of P. lactiflora root. PLE had higher antioxidant and polyphenol contents than PLS. But, PLS were significantly increased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-α. In addition, PLS inhibited the adipocyte differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells. When treated with the extract at a concentration of 100 μg/mL, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway reporter luciferase activity of HEK 293-TOP cells increased approximately by 3-folds compared to that of the untreated control group. These results indicate that P. lactiflora supercritical carbon dioxide extract may serve as a cosmeceutical for improving skin barrier function and the treatment of obesity.

Periodontal ligament (PDL) tissue is a connective tissue that is interposed between the roots of the teeth and the inner wall of the alveolar bone socket. PDL is always exposed to physiologic mechanical force such as masticatory force and PDL cells play important roles during orthodontic tooth movement by synthesizing and secreting different mediators involved in bone remodeling. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was recently shown to play a significant role in the control of bone formation. In the present study, we applied cyclic tensile stress of 20% elongation to cultured human PDL cells and assessed its impact after six days upon components of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. RTPCR analysis showed that Wnt1a, Wnt3a, Wnt10b and the Wnt receptor LRP5 were down-regulated, whereas the Wnt inhibitor DKK1 was up-regulated in response to these stress conditions. In contrast, little change was detected in the mRNA expression of Wnt5a, Wnt7b, Fz1, and LRP6. By western blotting we found decreased expression of the β-catenin and p-GSK-3β proteins. Our results thus show that mechanical stress suppresses the canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway in PDL cells.

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is mandatory in adipogenesis. In this study, we investigated the applicability of functional materials for the treatment of obesity by examining Wnt/β-catenin pathway reporter activity related to adipocyte differentiation inhibiting with korean native plant extracts. The luciferase activity of HEK 293-TOP cells increased the reporter activity approximately 152% and 130% by treatment with Sanguisorba officinalis and Thuja orientalis, respectively. Ricinus communis were represented about 90% higher activity, two samples(Rosa rugosa and Sophorae Flos) showed 80% higher activity than the control. Three samples of plant extracts (Zanthoxylum piperitum, Pueraria thunbergiana, Solanum nigrum) were about 70% higher activity compared with the non-treated control. Cytotoxicity of plant extracts was not detected in the rat neural stem cells. These results suggest that the selected eight plant extracts are safe compounds. Our findings indicate that Wnt/β-catenin pathway reporter activity could be used for high throughput screening system. In addition, the plant extracts selected as candidates for adipocyte differentiation inhibiting may be potential therapeutic agents for obesity, it will be exploring the possibility of developing an anti-obesity materials through further experiments with selected plant extracts.