FRUCTOSE INDUCED CHANGES IN RAT SERUM LIPIDS AND ADIPOSE TISSUE GENE EXPRESSION AND PREVENTIVE EFFECTS OF AGRIMONIA EUPATORIA AQUEOUS INFUSION INTAKE

Abstract

Potential of various herbs in regard to their ability to counteract obesity and related metabolic disturbances has been extensively studied. The aim of the current study was to assess the potential of Agrimonia eupatoria aqueous infusion (AE) to counteract fructose induced changes in serum total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG), the ratio of retroperitoneal adipose tissue weight/body weight and adipose tissue gene expression of the proteins Lipe, Fasn, Dgat, Hmgcr and adipokines AdipoQ and Plin. Twenty-four male Wistar rats were equally divided in to four groups-standard diet (ST); standard diet with AE (ST+AE); fructose overloaded (FR); fructose overloaded with AE (FR+AE). FR group showed significantly higher levels of TC, TG and adipose tissue weight relative to other groups. AE administration resulted in lower TC and TG levels, as compared to ST group (0.93 ± 0.43 mmol/L vs. 1.29 ± 0.57 mmol/L, p < 0.05 and 0.59 ± 0.1 vs. 0.91 ± 0.17 mmol/L, p < 0.001, respectively). Similarly, TC and TG were decreased also in ST+AE group (0.47 ± 0.21 mmol/L vs. 0.87 ± 0.57 mmol/L, p < 0.01 and 0.77 ± 0.15 vs. 0.92 ± 0.25 mmol/L, p < 0.05, respectively) in comparison to ST group. Gene expression analysis revealed a significant increase in Lipe (2.35 fold change, p < 0.05) and Hmgcr (2.86 fold change, p < 0.05) and a decrease (83%, p < 0.001) in Fasn mRNA levels in the FR group. AE consumption contributed to a significant decrease in the expression of Dgat2 (56%, p < 0.05) and Hmgcr (0.52%, p < 0.05) in Fr+AE group and of Fasn (71%, p < 0.001) in the ST+AE group. In conclusion, recent study demonstrated that Agrimonia eupatoria aqueous infusion intake improved total cholesterol and triglycerides imbalance in Wistar rats and modulated adipose tissue gene expression, which indicated that the herb might exert its favourable effects on adipose tissue possibly by preventing triglyceride synthesis and inducing mobilization of stored TG.