Assessing the effects of orlistat as an anti-obesity drug in high fat diet induced obesity in male rats

Abstract

The present work was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the orlistat drug on some hormones and biochemical parameters in male rats received a high fat diet (HFD). Twenty-four rats were divided into four groups: 1st group administered normal diet, 2nd group administered HFD, the 3rd group administered HFD plus 9.5 mg/kg b.w./day orlistat, and the 4th group administered HFD diet plus 19 mg/kg b.w./day orlistat. The experimental period was for four weeks. At the end of the experiment, blood samples were obtained for biochemical and hormonal assays. The administration of HFD for four weeks increased significantly the weight gain, serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TAG), low density lipoprotein (LDL−c), glucose, insulin, triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), leptin, with the significant decrease in high density lipoprotein (HDL−c), ghrelin, thyrotropin (TSH) and testosterone hormones in the serum as compared with the control group. The treatment with orlistat neutralized the levels of the measured parameters as compared with HFD fed rats and the results were correlated with the dose of orlistat. In conclusion, an improvement was observed in the biochemical and hormonal results by the treatment with orlistat drug.