Abstract
Obesity is a continuous chronic metabolic disorder and has adverse effects on health, such as dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance. This study evaluated whether Rumex japonicus Houtt. ethanol extract (RU) and its active component nepodin (NE) affect obesity and its related complications, such as dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice. The NE and RU supplements did not produce significant differences in body weight and adipose tissue weight compared to HFD group, while plasma lipid profiles were only improved by the RU supplement. However, both the NE and RU supplement had beneficial effects on glucose homeostasis and insulin resistance through reduction of plasma free fatty acid (FFA) (p < 0.05), insulin (p < 0.05), homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (p < 0.05), and C-peptide (p < 0.05) levels. In particular, the RU supplement decreased the area under the curve (AUC) of intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IPGTT) (p < 0.05), and improved glucose intolerance. Taken together, NE and RU supplements can contribute to improvements in HFD-induced hyperglycemia, while dyslipidemia was only improved by the RU supplement.
Highlights
Obesity that results from an imbalance of energy intake and expenditure is a continuous chronic metabolic disorder
This study demonstrates for the first time that Rumex japonicus Houtt. ethanol extract can contribute to ameliorating hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice
There were no significant changes in body weight by supplementation of NE and RU compared to HFD group (Figure 1A)
Summary
Obesity that results from an imbalance of energy intake and expenditure is a continuous chronic metabolic disorder. It has adverse effects on health, such as hyperglycemia, type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), dyslipidemia, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and the number of obese people is steadily increasing [1]. Numerous studies have reported that free fatty acids (FFAs) play a key role in inducing obesity and insulin resistance, and elevated circulating FFA has been shown to impair insulin action [3,4]. Obesity is an important risk factor for hyperglycemia and T2DM, as it desensitizes glucose recipient organs to the action of insulin. As obesity induces insulin resistance, decrease of glucose uptake in recipient organs can result in hyperglycemia
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