Abstract
Historically, plants have proven their value as a source of phytochemicals with therapeutic potentials and recently they play an important role in the discovery of novel drugs. The current study aimed to investigate new antiobesity drugs from Plumbago europaea and Plumbago auriculata through the inhibition of the adsorption of dietary lipids. In vitro porcine pancreatic lipase inhibitory tests were conducted with weight reduction property as well as this study aimed to explore the antioxidant potential and to estimate total phenolic, flavonoid, and tannin contents in both of the studied species. Antioxidant capacity was evaluated using ferric reducing antioxidant power and DPPH assays, and porcine pancreatic lipase inhibitory tests were conducted using the UV spectrophotometric method, while total flavonoid, phenol, and tannin contents were estimated using standard phytochemical analytical methods. Antioxidant potential and total flavonoid, phenol, and tannin contents of P. europaea were significantly higher than those of P. auriculata, and both of the studied species have potential antiobesity activity in comparison with orlistat. Results of the present study show that both of the studied Plumbago species consist of bioactive compounds that can act as lipase inhibitors and therefore can be useful for the development of functional foods against obesity. It can also be used as a source of lead compounds for designing new antiobesity drugs. Further isolation, identification, and characterization of phyto-active compounds responsible for antiobesity action are required to evaluate the full therapeutic potentials of these plants.
Highlights
Plants have proven their value as a source of phytochemicals with therapeutic potentials and recently they play an important role in the discovery of novel drugs
Results of the present study show that both of the studied Plumbago species consist of bioactive compounds that can act as lipase inhibitors and can be useful for the development of functional foods against obesity. It can be used as a source of lead compounds for designing new antiobesity drugs
Total tannin content A standard calibration curve (Fig. 2) was established to calculate the percentage of tannins in the methanolic extracts of P. europaea and P. auriculata, using the following equation: Y = 0.9554X + 0.0003, R2 = 0.9988, where Y is the absorbance at 500 nm and X is the total tannin content in the plant methanolic extract
Summary
Plants have proven their value as a source of phytochemicals with therapeutic potentials and recently they play an important role in the discovery of novel drugs. Obesity is currently considered a worrying epidemic disorder It touches adults, as well as children and teenagers. It was estimated that about 300,000 people die each year from obesity and related causes, which puts this disorder as the second leading cause of death. Being both overweight and obese increases the risk of several diseases and health conditions such as high triglycerides, cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, tumors (breast, colon, and endometrial), sleep disorders, and respiratory problems [7,8,9]
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