Abstract
AbstractObesity is a condition affecting a substantial number of people in the world. Obese people have increased risks of developing chronic metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, among others. Predicting potential development together with rapid diagnosis of the condition followed by early interventions is therefore necessary. This work investigated, first, utility of Raman spectroscopy in performing comparative antiobesity influence studies of oxytocin and a freeze‐dried extract of a local herbal plant exhibiting oxytocin‐like properties called Uvariodendron anisatum Verdeck (Annonaceae) (UAV) on diet induced obesity in Sprague Dawley rat models. Second, we looked for obesity biomarker Raman spectral bands. The blood extracted from the rats were applied onto conductive silver paste smeared glass slides and excited using a 785‐nm laser. Raman spectra of blood from oxytocin‐ and UAV‐treated rats displayed similar profiles with low doses of UAV (100 mg/kg of body weight) being more similar to oxytocin than high doses (200 mg/kg of body weight) as revealed by cosine similarity value of 0.997. Their profiles were also different from blood of obese and nonobese (normal controls) animals. A prominent peak in spectra of treated rats centred at 401 cm−1 can be oxytocin's biomarker band in blood. Comparison of average intensity trend of fructose bands at around 638 and 812 cm−1 between prepared fructose solution and blood of treated rats revealed elevated levels of fructose in blood of rats intraperitoneally injected oxytocin and UAV extracts. The result implied upregulation of fructose in oxytocin‐ and UAV‐treated animals. Principal component analysis confirmed that Raman spectral profiles from blood of obese rats were different from those of nonobese rats with bands ascribed to fructose (638, 812, and 1,217 cm−1) and branched chain amino acids (BCAAs; 478, 1,318, and 1,443 cm−1), being utilized in the segregation of the spectral data sets. It also showed that spectra from oxytocin‐treated and UAV‐treated rat's blood were similar implying identical influence of the drugs on the animals. The study showed potential of Raman spectroscopy as tool for quick obesity (or metabolic syndrome) screening with intensity of Raman bands associated with fructose and BCAAs as biomarkers. Besides, the same bands may be used in comparative efficacy studies of antiobesity drugs. The results reported here are rare in literature.
Highlights
Obesity, a metabolic condition characterized by abnormal increase in body weight and fat accumulation [1,2,3], is a problem globally
The study shows the potential of Raman spectroscopy as tool for quick obesity screening with intensity of Raman bands associated with fructose acting as biomarkers
The other prominent bands observed were those centered at wavenumbers 645 cm-1, 846 cm-1 and 1617 cm-1 ascribed to tyrosine with the commonly known 830/850 cm-1 doublet seen in oxytocin powder and solution [34,35]; 1240 cm-1 assigned to amide III with anti-parallel β-sheet structure [34]; 1450 cm-1 assigned to C-H
Summary
A metabolic condition characterized by abnormal increase in body weight and fat accumulation [1,2,3], is a problem globally. The two i.e. obesity and overweight are distinguished by a value known as body mass index (BMI) which basically is a ratio of weight (in kilograms) to the square of height (meters squared). An obese individual has risks of developing chronic metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, cancer among others[1,3,5]. Management of this metabolic condition involves use of anti-obesity drugs, increase in physical exercise, reduction of high energy diet. These methods are un-popular due to side-effects and high failure rates. New interventions involving natural products with few side effects along with quick diagnostic techniques for monitoring their efficacy and at the same time detecting potential development of the condition are necessary
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