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Anti-obesity and cardioprotective effects of cinnamic acid in high fat diet- induced obese rats

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Abstract

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder that is associated with numerous diseases including hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Cinnamic acid is a phytochemical compound having many biological effects and could be considered for the management of obesity. This study is aimed to assess the possible anti-obesity and cardioprotective properties of cinnamic acid (CA) in high fat diet-fed rats (HFD). Male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups. They received normal diet, HFD diet, HFD supplemented with fluvastatin (2 mg/kg/day) or cinnamic acid (30 mg/kg/day) for 7 weeks. The results showed an increase in body weight of HFD rats by ~27 % as compared to control group. Moreover, serum lipase activity underwent a significant rise by 103 % which led to an increase in the levels of total cholesterol (T-Ch), triglycerides (TG), LDL-cholesterol in serum of untreated HFD-fed rats. Furthermore, the concentration of leptin and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity exhibited remarkable increases in serum of HFD-fed rats as compared to controls. Whereas, the administration of CA to HFD-fed rats improved the body weight gain and serum lipid profile and reverted back near to normal the activities of lipase and ACE. In addition, the echocardiography evidenced that CA is able to protect the aorta and aortic arch and avoided vasoconstriction by increasing their diameters and improved liver steatosis and kidney indices of toxicity. Overall, these results suggest that cinnamic acid exerts anti-obesity and antihypertensive effects through inhibition of lipid digestive enzymes and ACE.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Tunisian Ministry of Public Health. Authors wish to thank Dr. Ahmad Laifi  for his assistance in the realization of the echography.

Competing Interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Animal Ecophysiology, Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, University of Sfax, P.O. Box 95, Sfax, 3052, Tunisia

    Kais Mnafgui, Amal Derbali & Abdelfattah Elfeki

  2. Laboratory of Chemistry of Natural Products, Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, B.P. 1171, 3000, Sfax, Tunisia

    Kais Mnafgui & Noureddine Allouche

  3. Laboratoire des Bioprocédés Environnementaux, pôle d’excellence régional (PER, AUF), Centre de Biotechnologie de Sfax, University of Sfax, B.P. “1177”, 3018, Sfax, Tunisia

    Sami Sayadi

  4. Laboratory of Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of Sciences of Sfax, B.P. 1171, 3000 Sfax, Tunisia

    Neji Gharsallah

Authors
  1. Kais Mnafgui
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  2. Amal Derbali
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  3. Sami Sayadi
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  4. Neji Gharsallah
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  5. Abdelfattah Elfeki
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  6. Noureddine Allouche
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Correspondence to Kais Mnafgui.

Additional information

Kais Mnafgui and Amal Derbali contributed equally to this work

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Mnafgui, K., Derbali, A., Sayadi, S. et al. Anti-obesity and cardioprotective effects of cinnamic acid in high fat diet- induced obese rats. J Food Sci Technol 52, 4369–4377 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-014-1488-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-014-1488-2

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