ABSTRACT
Biological rhythms can be defined as changes in physiological or behavioral variables that repeat at certain time intervals. Rhythms that last approximately 24 h are referred to as circadian rhythms. Modern lifestyles have drastically affected human habits, as well as the population's eating habits. These changes have generated an epidemic of metabolic syndromes, such as obesity and diabetes. In an attempt to combat obesity, populations have attempted to use many different herbal remedies and plant-based drugs, the most common of which is Camellia sinensis, or green tea. Most of the studies on the effects of C. sinensis on maintaining body weight have reported the involvement of this substance in lipid oxidation. The objective of this study was to evaluate how the administration of C. sinensis at different times of day influenced changes in body weight, blood glucose levels, and food intake of mice kept under different diet conditions. The structural organization of abdominal adipose tissue was also evaluated, as were certain aspects of lipid metabolism and overall synthetic activity in the liver, adipose tissue, and ovaries. The results obtained suggest that the intake of green tea in the light phase of the day stimulates weight loss, regardless of the diet ingested. Neither glucose levels nor the structural organization of adipose tissue was found to be altered in any of the experimental groups. Neither diet nor the time at which the green tea was administered was found to have any effects on the amount of food the mice consumed. The time at which green tea was consumed and the type of diet both influenced LXRαß nuclear receptor expression, as well as the expression of fibrillarin in the liver and ovaries, although this influence was tissue specific.
