Antiobesity and Hypolipidemic Effects of Polyphenol-Rich Longan (Dimocarpus longans Lour.) Flower Water Extract in Hypercaloric-Dietary Rats

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry Vol. 58; no. 3; pp. 2020 - 2027
• Main Authors: Yang, Deng-Jye, Chang, Yuan-Yen, Hsu, Chin-Lin, Liu, Cheng-Wei, Lin, Yi-Ling, Lin, Yu-Huei, Liu, Kai-Cheng, Chen, Yi-Chen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 10.02.2010
• Subjects: administration & dosage; animal models; Animals; antiobesity effect; aqueous solutions; Biological and medical sciences; blood; chemical analysis; chemical composition; chemistry; Dietary Fats; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; Dimocarpus longan; Disease Models, Animal; drug effects; drug therapy; Flavonoids; Flavonoids - therapeutic use; flowers; Flowers - chemistry; Food industries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression; Gene Expression - drug effects; genetics; high energy diet; Humans; Hypolipidemic Agents; Hypolipidemic Agents - administration & dosage; lipemic effect; Lipid Metabolism; Lipid Metabolism - drug effects; Male; medicinal properties; metabolism; Molecular Nutrition; obesity; Obesity - drug therapy; Obesity - genetics; Obesity - metabolism; Phenols; Phenols - therapeutic use; plant extracts; Plant Extracts - therapeutic use; Polyphenols; PPAR alpha; PPAR alpha - genetics; PPAR alpha - metabolism; Random Allocation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Sapindaceae; Sapindaceae - chemistry; therapeutic use; Triglycerides; Triglycerides - blood; longan flower water extract; lipid homeostasis; pancreatic lipase activity; Antiobesity; polyphenol; hypolipidemic effect; Water; Flower; Rat; Enzyme; Rodentia; Triacylglycerol lipase; Lipids; Esterases; Extract; Carboxylic ester hydrolases; Vertebrata; Polyphenol; Mammalia; Plant part; Hydrolases
• DOI: 10.1021/jf903355q
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118

Plenty of polyphenols, i.e. phenolic acids and flavonoids, were found in longan flower water extract (LFWE) through spectrophotometric and HPLC analyses. Antiobesity and hypolipidemic effects of polyphenol-rich longan flower water extract (LFWE) were investigated in this study. Eight male rats per group were assigned randomly to one of the following dietary groups: (1) normal-caloric diet and pure water (NCD + NDW); (2) hypercaloric diet and pure water (HCD + NDW); (3) HCD and 1.25% (w/v) LFWE (HCD + 1.25% LFWE); (4) HCD and 2.5% (w/v) LFWE (HCD + 2.5% LFWE) for 9 weeks. Body weight, size of epididymal fat, serum triglyceride level and atherogenic index, and hepatic lipids were decreased (p < 0.05) in HCD rats by drinking 2.5% LFWE which may result from downregulated (p < 0.05) pancreatic lipase activity, and sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) and fatty acid synthase (FAS) gene expressions, as well as upregulated (p < 0.05) LDL receptor (LDLR) and peroxisome proliferator-activated-receptor-alpha (PPAR-α) gene expressions, and also increased (p < 0.05) fecal triglyceride excretions. Therefore, polyphenol-rich LFWE indeed characterizes antiobesity and hypolipidemic effects in vivo.