Noemí Boqué

Natural Inhibitors of Pancreatic Lipase as New Players in Obesity Treatment

Obesity is a multifactorial disease characterized by an excessive weight for height due to an enlarged fat deposition such as adipose tissue, which is attributed to a higher calorie intake than the energy expenditure. The key strategy to combat obesity is to prevent chronic positive impairments in the energy equation. However, it is often difficult to maintain energy balance, because many available foods are high-energy yielding, which is usually accompanied by low levels of physical activity. The pharmaceutical industry has invested many efforts in producing antiobesity drugs; but only a lipid digestion inhibitor obtained from an actinobacterium is currently approved and authorized in Europe for obesity treatment. This compound inhibits the activity of pancreatic lipase, which is one of the enzymes involved in fat digestion. In a similar way, hundreds of extracts are currently being isolated from plants, fungi, algae, or bacteria and screened for their potential inhibition of pancreatic lipase activity. Among them, extracts isolated from common foodstuffs such as tea, soybean, ginseng, yerba mate, peanut, apple, or grapevine have been reported. Some of them are polyphenols and saponins with an inhibitory effect on pancreatic lipase activity, which could be applied in the management of the obesity epidemic.

Adiposoft: automated software for the analysis of white adipose tissue cellularity in histological sections

The accurate estimation of the number and size of cells provides relevant information on the kinetics of growth and the physiological status of a given tissue or organ. Here, we present Adiposoft, a fully automated open-source software for the analysis of white adipose tissue cellularity in histological sections. First, we describe the sequence of image analysis routines implemented by the program. Then, we evaluate our software by comparing it with other adipose tissue quantification methods, namely, with the manual analysis of cells in histological sections (used as gold standard) and with the automated analysis of cells in suspension, the most commonly used method. Our results show significant concordance between Adiposoft and the other two methods. We also demonstrate the ability of the proposed method to distinguish the cellular composition of three different rat fat depots. Moreover, we found high correlation and low disagreement between Adiposoft and the manual delineation of cells. We conclude that Adiposoft provides accurate results while considerably reducing the amount of time and effort required for the analysis.

Healthy properties of proanthocyanidins.

Proanthocyanidins, also named condensed tannins, are the result of flavanols condensation. Oligomers and polymers of proanthocyanidins can widely be found in the plant kingdom, as in fruits and berries, seeds, flowers, and leafs. They have a putative role as antioxidants, and they affect the inflammatory process via calcium‐dependent release of nitric oxide and protect against H2O2‐induced lipid peroxidation. They also demonstrated a role in cardiovascular diseases via vessel relaxation and LDL oxidation inhibition. These condensed tannins have also shown activities that improve diabetic complications, such as neuropathy, retinopathy, or nephropathy, including a decrease in serum glucose and advanced glycation end products. Furthermore, proanthocyanidins have evidenced anticancer properties by mitigating tumor development through induction of apoptosis or inhibition of cell proliferation. Finally, they are able to produce antiadhesive actions against bacteria in urinary and dental infections, including Escherichia coli and Streptococcus mutans. Hence, proanthocyanidins are considered as beneficial molecules in preventing or treating many diseases and pathological conditions. Therefore, finding out more about condensed tannins bioavailability, and understanding the regulatory genes and pathways involved in their effects should be aimed in future research.

Prevention of diet-induced obesity by apple polyphenols in Wistar rats through regulation of adipocyte gene expression and DNA methylation patterns

This study was conducted to determine the mechanisms implicated in the beneficial effects of apple polyphenols (APs) against diet-induced obesity in Wistar rats, described in a previous study from our group. Supplementation of high-fat sucrose diet with AP prevented adiposity increase by inhibition of adipocyte hypertrophy. Rats supplemented with AP exhibited improved glucose tolerance while adipocytes isolated from these rats showed an enhanced lipolytic response to isoproterenol. AP intake led to reduced Lep, Plin, and sterol regulatory element binding transcription factor 1 (Srebf1) mRNA levels and increased aquaporin 7 (Aqp7), adipocyte enhancer binding protein 1 (Aebp1), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma co-activator 1 alpha (Ppargc1a) mRNA levels in epididymal adipocytes. In addition, we found different methylation patterns of Aqp7, Lep, Ppargc1a, and Srebf1 promoters in adipocytes from apple-supplemented rats compared to high-fat sucrose fed rats. The administration of AP protects against body weight gain and fat deposition and improves glucose tolerance in rats. We propose that AP exerts the antiobesity effects through the regulation of genes involved in adipogenesis, lipolysis, and fatty acid oxidation, in a process that could be mediated in part by epigenetic mechanisms.

Screening of polyphenolic plant extracts for anti-obesity properties in Wistar rats.

BACKGROUND Polyphenols have been reported to prevent chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases. The objective of the study was to conduct a screening for potential anti-obesity polyphenolic plant extracts using a diet-induced animal model. Rats were fed a high-fat-sucrose (HFS) diet with or without supplementation of different polyphenolic plant extracts (almond, apple, cinnamon, orange blossom, hamamelis, lime blossom, grape vine, and birch) for 56-64 days. RESULTS Body weight gain was lower in rats supplemented with apple, cinnamon, hamamelis and birch extracts as compared to HFS non-supplemented group. Moreover, apple and cinnamon extracts prevented the increase in fat mass promoted by the HFS diet. Insulin resistance, estimated by the homostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index, was reduced in rats fed apple, cinnamon, hamamelis and birch extracts. Apple extract also prevented the HFS-induced hyperglycaemia and hyperleptinaemia. CONCLUSION Only apple and cinnamon extracts were finally considered as potentially important anti-obesogenic extracts, due to their body fat-lowering effects, while the improvement of obesity-related metabolic complications by apple polyphenols highlights this extract as a promising functional food ingredient for the management of obesity and its metabolic complications.

Selenoprotein-P is down-regulated in prostate cancer, which results in lack of protection against oxidative damage.

Oxidative stress plays a role in prostate cancer (PrCa) initiation and development. Selenoprotein‐P (SepP; a protein involved in antioxidant defence) mRNA levels are down‐regulated in PrCa. The main goal of our study was to assess whether SepP protects prostate cells from reactive oxygen species (ROS) in prostate carcinogenesis.

Liver Proteome Changes Induced by a Short-Term High-Fat Sucrose Diet in Wistar Rats

Background/Aims: The aim of this study was to gain insight into those proteins that might be involved in the early stages of liver fat accumulation as a consequence of a different fat versus simple sugar dietary intake. Methods: Forty-five male Wistar rats were randomly distributed into four dietary groups: a starch-rich control diet (CD; n = 10), a high-fat diet (n = 12), a high-sucrose diet (n = 11), and a high-fat sucrose diet (HFSD; n = 12) for 5 weeks. A comparative analysis by 2D-DIGE and LC-ESI-MS/MS was performed to characterize the liver protein expression profiles due to the three obesogenic diets. Results: Ten out of 17 proteins whose expression levels were altered by >1.25-fold were identified. Four proteins (Hspa8, Hspa9, Ca3, and Cat) were differentially expressed after the HFSD period compared to CD. The heat shock proteins (Hspa8 and Hspa9) resulted significantly downregulated in liver from rats fed HFSD versus CD (p < 0.05). The results were confirmed by Western blot. Conclusions: This descriptive study might be useful for further studies aiming at understanding the mechanisms by which diets rich in both fat and sugar affect the initiation of hepatic steatosis.

Contents Vol. 4, 2011

M.C. Archer, Toronto, Qué. A.G. Comuzzie, San Antonio, Tex. R. De Caterina, Chieti D. Corella, Valencia H.-W. Deng, Kansas City, Mo. A. El-Sohemy, Toronto, Qué. L.R. Ferguson, Auckland J. Hebebrand, Essen C. Junien, Paris T. Kadowaki, Tokyo D. Langin, Toulouse F. Leighton, Santiago É. Lévy, Montréal, Qué. J.A. Martínez, Pamplona G.D. Miller, Rosemont, Ill. A.G. Motulsky, Seattle, Wash. J.M. Ordovas, Boston, Mass. T. Rice, St. Louis, Mo. W.H.M. Saris, Maastricht A.P. Simopoulos, Washington, D.C. P. Talmud, London M. Uusitupa, Kuopio A. Velázquez, México City C. Warden, Davis, Calif. International Society of Nutrigenetics/Nutrigenomics (ISNN)

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