PPARγ expression by rambutan peel extract in obesity rat model-induced high-calorie diet

Combined effect of pantoprazole and mesenchymal stem cells on experimentally induced gastric ulcer: implication of oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis pathways

Gastric ulcer (GU) is one of the most common diseases of the upper gastrointestinal tract that affects millions of people worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the possible alleviating effect of a combined treatment of pantoprazole (PANTO) and adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) in comparison with each treatment alone on the healing process of the experimentally induced GU in rats, and to uncover the involved pathways. Rats were divided into five groups: (1) Control, (2) GU, (3) PANTO, (4) ADSCs and (5) ADSCs + PANTO. Markers of oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis were assessed. The current data indicated that PANTO-, ADSCs- and ADSCs + PANTO-treated groups showed significant drop (p < 0.05) in serum advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs) and advanced glycation end products (AGEPs) along with significant elevation (p < 0.05) in serum TAC versus the untreated GU group. Moreover, the treated groups (PANTO, ADSCs and ADSCs + PANTO) displayed significant down-regulation (p < 0.05) in gastric nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9) and caspase-3 along with significant up-regulation (p < 0.05) in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) genes expression compared to the untreated GU group. Immunohistochemical examination of gastric tissue for transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), epidermal growth factor (EGF) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) showed moderate to mild and weak immune reactions, respectively in the PANTO-, ADSCs- and ADSCs + PANTO-treated rat. Histopathological investigation of gastric tissue revealed moderate to slight histopathological alterations and almost normal histological features of the epithelial cells, gastric mucosal layer, muscularis mucosa and submucosa in PANTO-, ADSCs- and ADSCs + PANTO-treated rats, respectively. Conclusively, the co-treatment with ADSCs and PANTO evidenced sententious physiological protection against GU by suppressing oxidative stress, inhibiting inflammation and reducing apoptosis with consequent acceleration of gastric tissue healing process.

Therapeutic Targets for Phenolic Compounds from Agro-industrial Byproducts against Obesity

BACKGROUND

Obesity is considered as a global epidemic worldwide. This disorder is associated to several health effects such as metabolic disturbances that need both prevention and treatment actions. In this sense, bioactive secondary metabolites can be obtained from cheap sources such as agro-industrial waste providing a sustainable alternative against obesity. Among these secondary metabolites, phenolic compounds present a common chemical structure core with different substitutions that provides them biological properties such as antioxidant, inflammatory, anti-aging capacities.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this review is to compile anti-obesity therapeutic targets for phenolic compounds from agro-industrial byproducts.

METHOD

Scientific information has been obtained from different databases such as Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar in order to select the available full text studies in last years.

RESULTS

This review shows that peel, seed, pomace and other byproducts from agro-industry have different effects inhibiting enzymes related to lipid or glucose metabolism and modulating biomarkers, genes and gut microbiota in animal models.

CONCLUSION

Revalorizing actions of agro-industrial byproducts in the prevention or treatment of obesity or associated disorders can be considered to develop new high value products that act on lipid, glucose and energy metabolisms, oxidative stress, inflammation, adipose tissue or gut microbiota. However, further human studies are need in order to stablish the optimal administration parameters.

Antioxidant-rich Tamarindus indica L. leaf extract reduced high-fat diet-induced obesity in rat through modulation of gene expression

Background

Different parts of the medicinal plant Tamarindus indica L. are full of phytochemicals that are able to reduce elevated blood pressure, blood sugar and lipids. These pharmacological effects are due to the presence of antioxidant type compounds in those parts of the plant. This study was aimed to explore the molecular mechanism of anti-obesity effects of ethanolic extract of T. indica L. leaves (TILE) through the evaluation of biochemical parameters and gene expression analysis in high-fat diet (HFD) consuming Wistar rats.

Methods

Male Wistar rats were supplied with a standard diet (SD), or HFD, or HFD with 100 mg/kg or 200 mg/kg or 400 mg/kg TILE for 8 weeks. The body weight, liver weight, fat weight, plasma lipids, and oxidative stress-related parameters were measured. The transcript levels of different adipogenesis related transcription factors, lipogenic enzymes, and lipolytic enzymes were also evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR.

Result

Phytochemical analysis demonstrated that TILE is enriched with a substantial level of polyphenols (287.20 ± 9.21 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoids (107.52 ± 11.12 mg QE/g extract) which might be the reason of significant antioxidant and radical scavenging activities. Feeding of TILE (400 mg/kg/day) to HFD-fed rats increased activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase which is reflected as a significant reduction of oxidative stress markers like nitric oxide and malondialdehyde. TILE (400 mg/kg/day) feeding also down-regulated the mRNA levels of proadipogenic transcription factors including liver X receptor alpha (LXRα), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), and sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c (SREBP1c) in diet-induced obese rats. As a consequence of this, the mRNA level of lipogenic enzymes like acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), fatty acid synthase (FAS), diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT), and HMG-CoA reductase was down-regulated with a parallel up-regulation of the transcript level of lipolytic enzyme, hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL).

Conclusion

Observations from this study indicate that antioxidant-rich TILE can reduce HFD-induced body weight, fat weight and liver weight as well as blood lipids through down-regulating the gene expression of proadipogenic transcription factors and lipogenic enzymes with a concerted diminution of the gene expression of lipolytic enzyme, HSL.

Microencapsulation of Rambutan Peel Extract by Spray Drying

Microencapsulation of bioactive compounds (BC) from rambutan peel by spray drying using DE10 maltodextrin as encapsulating agent was performed. The optimal conditions for the ethanolic extraction of BC were 60 °C, with a time of 1 h, 55% aqueous ethanol and three extraction cycles. The best spray drying encapsulating conditions for BC and antioxidant capacity (AC) were: inlet temperature 160 °C, outlet temperature 80 °C, and 10% encapsulating agent concentration in the feeding solution (core:encapsulating agent ratio of 1:4). With these conditions, retention and encapsulation efficiencies obtained were higher than 85%, the water activity value, moisture content and Hausner Index were of 0.25 ± 0.01, 3.95 ± 0.10%, and 1.42 ± 0.00, respectively. The optimized powder presented good solubility and morphological properties, showing microcapsules without ruptures. Based on these results, microencapsulation by spray drying is a viable technique which protects BC of rambutan peel, facilitating its application in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries.