EFFECT OF RHUBARB FREE ANTHRAQUINONES ON OBESITY IN RATS AND ITS POTENTIAL MECHANISM

Authors

  • GUIFANG ZHANG School of Pharmacy and State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Lanzhou University-730000, China
  • HAIJIAO WANG School of Pharmacy and State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Lanzhou University-730000, China
  • SAEED ULLAH KHATTAK Centre of Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan
  • HUIJUAN LV School of Pharmacy and State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Lanzhou University-730000, China
  • LIFANG WANG School of Pharmacy and State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Lanzhou University-730000, China
  • XUEFENG LI School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou-730000, China
  • XIUXIA SUN School of Pharmacy and State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Lanzhou University-730000, China
  • YANBIN SHI School of Pharmacy and State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Lanzhou University-730000, China. Collaborative Innovation Center for Northwestern Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou-730000 University, China https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5333-9866

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22159/ijap.2023v15i6.49272

Keywords:

Rhubarb free anthraquinones, Anti-obesity, Network pharmacology, Molecular docking, Mechanism of action

Abstract

Objective: The study was to confirm the effect of rhubarb-free anthraquinones (RhA) on anti-obesity and preliminarily explore the possible mechanism of action of RhA.

Methods: The obesity model of rats was induced by a high-fat diet to evaluate the effect of RhA on weight reduction and their potential mechanism based on network pharmacology and molecular docking as well as Western blotting analysis.

Results: RhA significantly reduced body weight, lipid-body ratio and Lee's index of the obese model rats. The level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol significantly was decreased, and the number of fat droplets and fat cells in the liver tissue of the obese model rats was significantly reduced after treatment. The anti-obesity-related core proteins mainly targeted by RhA were predicted as MAPK8, MAPK14 and CASP3. Aloe-emodin, rhein, emodin, chrysophanol, and physcion had high affinity with these proteins. The relative expression of CASP3 and MAPK8 in the obese model rats was increased at gene and proteins levels after treatment.

Conclusion: RhA had significant weight-reducing and blood lipid-lowering effect of obese rats, and they may mainly intervene in obesity by up-regulating the expression levels of MAPK8 and CASP3 protein involved in fat metabolism.

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Published

07-11-2023

How to Cite

ZHANG, G., WANG, H., KHATTAK, S. U., LV, H., WANG, . L., LI, X., SUN, X., & SHI, Y. (2023). EFFECT OF RHUBARB FREE ANTHRAQUINONES ON OBESITY IN RATS AND ITS POTENTIAL MECHANISM. International Journal of Applied Pharmaceutics, 15(6), 142–152. https://doi.org/10.22159/ijap.2023v15i6.49272

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