ABSTRACT
Increased fructose ingestion has been linked to obesity, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and hypertension associated with metabolic syndrome. Cordia boissieri A. DC. (Boraginaceae) is a slow growing beautiful plant, used traditionally as herbal remedy by diabetic Hispanic women in the Southwestern USA. The present study aimed to elucidate the toxicity and the possible protective effect of ethyl acetate extract of C. boissieri leaves on metabolic syndrome. Three groups of rats were fed on fructose-enriched diet for 14 weeks. One group served as fructose-enriched diet control, while the remaining groups were treated with metformin (10 mg/kg/day) and ethyl acetate extract (200 mg/kg/day) during the last 4 weeks. A fourth group was fed on normal laboratory diet. At the end of the experiment, blood samples were withdrawn for the estimation of metabolic syndrome-related markers and liver samples were subjected to histopathological and immunohistochemical examination. Induction of metabolic syndrome using fructose enriched diet was associated with increased weight gain coupled with elevated levels of blood glucose, insulin, uric acid, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglycerides, malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor in addition to, decreased level of glutathione (GSH). Four-weeks oral administration of ethyl acetate extract attenuated most of the changes associated with metabolic syndrome as marked by improved insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, kidney function, lipid profiles and reduced oxidative stress and inflammation. The present study provides evidence of the potential protective effect of C. boissieri against metabolic syndrome.
ABSTRACT
Calligonum polygonoides L. subsp. comosum; locally known as “arta”, is tall woody shrub, perennial desert plant. TLC screening, estrogenic and antimicrobial activities of different fractions of hydroalcoholic extract of the leaves; n-hexane, CH2Cl2, EtOAc and n-BuOH, were studied in order to find the correlation between the phytoconstituents and the biological activity. Estrogenic activity was studied in immature ovariectomized female Wistar rats by oral administration of 75 and 150 mg extract/kg body weight for seven days using 1 μg estradiol/rat/day as positive control. The antimicrobial activity against Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia was carried out using agar diffusion method with determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The CH2Cl2 fraction showed significant estrogenic and antimicrobial activity by significantly increasing uterine weight and low MIC values for all tested microorganisms ranging from 0.03 and 3.9 mg/mL. The n-hexane fraction showed mainly the presence of sterols and/or triterpenoids. The EtOAc and n-BuOH fractions were the richest in flavonoids while that of methylene chloride was found to contain both classes of chemical compounds. In conclusion; flavonoids, sterols and/or triterpenes exhibit synergistic effect to the antimicrobial and estrogenic activity of Calligonum polygonoides leaves. Abbreviations: CH2Cl2: methylene chloride, EtOAc: ethyl acetate, n-BuOH: normal butanol, MIC: minimum inhibitory concentration, TLC: thin layer chromatography, b. wt. body weight, p. o.: oral administration, HE: n-hexane extracts of leaves, ME: methylene chloride extract of leaves, EE: ethyl acetate extract of leaves, BE: n-butanol extract of leaves, RCMB: Regional Center for Mycology and Biotechnology, NA: No activity.