Phytomedicine Research Group, Department of Human Anatomy, Division of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, UPM, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
J Nat Med. 2012 Apr;66(2):333-42. doi: 10.1007/s11418-011-0597-8. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
Obesity and overweight are associated with atherosclerosis, fatty liver, hyperlipemia, diabetes mellitus, and various types of cancer. The global prevalence of overweight and obesity has reached epidemic proportions. Here, we investigated the effect of Tamarindus indica pulp aqueous extract (TIE) in diet-induced obese Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals were divided into five groups and labeled as follows: the normal control (NC) group received normal diet; the positive control (PC) group received high-fat diet; and the TIE 5, 25, and 50 groups, after the induction of obesity via a high-fat diet, received TIE at 5, 25, or 50 mg/kg orally for 10 weeks. It was observed that TIE decreased the levels of plasma total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and triglyceride, and increased high-density lipoprotein (HDL), with the concomitant reduction of body weight. Moreover, TIE decreased plasma leptin and reduced fatty acid synthase (FAS) activity and enhanced the efficiency of the antioxidant defense system. TIE exhibits antiobesity effects, as indicated by a significant reduction in adipose tissue weights, as well as lowering the degree of hepatic steatosis in the obesity-induced rats. The extract possesses hepatoprotective activity, as it reversed the plasma liver enzymes level elevation prior to the high-fat diet. In conclusion, TIE improved obesity-related parameters in blood, liver, and adipose tissue in a rat model and suppressed obesity induced by a high-fat diet, possibly by regulating lipid metabolism and lowering plasma leptin and FAS levels. A dose-dependant effect of TIE is detected, where TIE at 50 mg/kg showed the most prominent effect, followed by TIE at 25 mg/kg and, subsequently, 5 mg/kg.
肥胖和超重与动脉粥样硬化、脂肪肝、高脂血症、糖尿病和各种类型的癌症有关。超重和肥胖的全球患病率已达到流行程度。在这里，我们研究了罗望子果肉水提物（TIE）对饮食诱导肥胖的 Sprague-Dawley 大鼠的影响。将动物分为五组并标记如下：正常对照组（NC）给予正常饮食；阳性对照组（PC）给予高脂肪饮食；TIE 5、25 和 50 组，在用高脂肪饮食诱导肥胖后，分别给予 5、25 或 50mg/kg 的 TIE 口服 10 周。结果表明，TIE 降低了血浆总胆固醇、低密度脂蛋白（LDL）和甘油三酯水平，增加了高密度脂蛋白（HDL），同时降低了体重。此外，TIE 降低了血浆瘦素水平，降低了脂肪酸合酶（FAS）活性，增强了抗氧化防御系统的效率。TIE 表现出抗肥胖作用，这表现在脂肪组织重量显著减轻，以及降低肥胖诱导大鼠的肝脂肪变性程度。该提取物具有保肝活性，因为它逆转了高脂肪饮食前血浆肝酶水平的升高。总之，TIE 在肥胖大鼠模型中改善了与肥胖相关的血液、肝脏和脂肪组织参数，并抑制了高脂肪饮食引起的肥胖，可能是通过调节脂质代谢和降低血浆瘦素和 FAS 水平。TIE 显示出剂量依赖性效应，50mg/kg 的 TIE 效果最为显著，其次是 25mg/kg 的 TIE，随后是 5mg/kg 的 TIE。
