The resin from protium heptaphyllum prevents high-fat diet-induced obesity in mice : scientific evidence and potential mechanisms

• Autor(a) principal: Carvalho, Karine Maria Martins Bezerra
• Data de Publicação: 2015
• Outros Autores: MarinhoFilho, José Delano Barreto, Melo, Tiago Sousa de, Araújo, Ana Jérsia, Quetz, Josiane da Silva, Cunha, Mariado Perpétuo Socorro Saldanha da, Melo, Karina Moura de, Silva, Armenio Andrede Carvalho Almeida da, Tomé, Adriana Rocha, Havt, Alexandre, Fonseca, Said Gonçalves da Cruz, Brito, Gerly Annede Castro, Chaves, Mariana Helena, Rao, Vietla Satyanarayana, Santos, Flávia Almeida
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC)
• Texto Completo: http://www.repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/16825
• topic: Dieta; Obesidade

Herbal compounds rich in triterpenes are well known to regulate glucose and lipid metabolism and to have beneficial effects on metabolic disorders. The present study investigated the antiobesity properties of resin from Protium heptaphyllum (RPH) and the possible mechanisms in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 15 weeks. Mice treated with RPH showed decreases in body weight, net energy intake, abdominal fat accumulation, plasma glucose, amylase, lipase, triglycerides, and total cholesterol relative to their respective controls, which were RPH unfed. Additionally, RPH treatment, while significantly elevating the plasma level of ghrelin hormone, decreased the levels of insulin, leptin, and resistin. Besides, HFD-induced increases in plasma levels of proinflammatory mediators TNF-α, IL-6, and MCP-1 were significantly lowered by RPH. Furthermore, in vitro studies revealed that RPH could significantly inhibit the lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes (measured by Oil-Red O staining) at concentrations up to 50 g/mL. These findings suggest that the antiobese potential of RPH is largely due to its modulatory effects on various hormonal and enzymatic secretions related to fat and carbohydrate metabolism and to the regulation of obesity-associated inflammation.