Anti-obesity and hypolipidemic effects of Nelumbo nucifera leaves extract (NNLE) and taurine supplementation in adolescent rats fed with a high-fat diet

초록

Recently the leaf of the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) has been used to treat obesity. The objective of this study was to investigate the anti-obesity and hypolipidemic effects of Nelumbo nucifera leaves extract (NNLE) and taurine supplementation in diet-induced adolescent obesity rats. Four week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups with 8 rats in each group for a period of 6 weeks (normal diet group, N group; high fat diet group, HF group; high fat diet + NNLE group, HFL group; high fat diet + NNLE + taurine group, HFLT group). Taurine and NNLE were supplemented by dissolving in feed water (3% w/v) and oral administration (400mg/kg/day), respectively, and the same amount of distilled water was orally administered to N and HF groups. The body weight gain and relative weight of epididymal and retroperitoneal adipose tissues were significantly lower in N, HFL and HFLT groups compared to HF group. HFL and HFLT groups showed decreasing concentrations of total cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein in serum, along with, enhancing the ratio of high density lipoprotein-cholesterol/total-cholesterol and the atherogenic index. In addition, HFLT group showed better blood lipid profiles compared to HFL group. Thus, it suggests that there are anti-obesity and hypolipidemic effects of the sacred lotus leaves extract and taurine supplementation in diet-induced adolescent obesity rats.