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Saponin-rich extract of Tribulus terrestris alleviates systemic inflammation and insulin resistance in dietary obese female rats: Impact on adipokine/hormonal disturbances.

Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie
March 1, 2022
Yousra Abdel-Mottaleb et al. (12 authors)
Journal ArticleAnimal Study
Study Details

Study Goal

The researchers aimed to determine whether a saponin-rich extract of Tribulus Terrestris could alleviate inflammatory burden, insulin resistance, adipokine expression, and related reproductive pathologies in a model of dietary obesity in female rats.

Results Summary

Tribulus Terrestris saponins (TTS) reduced body weight gain, serum triglycerides, and insulin resistance in obese rats. It also improved inflammatory cytokine levels, corrected hormonal disturbances, and ameliorated ovarian pathologies.

Population

Female rats with diet-induced obesity.

Effective Dosage

5 and 10 mg/kg/day.

Duration

14 weeks.

Interactions

None mentioned.

Extracted Claims (12)
InterventionDirectionEndpointPopulationDosageImpactClaim #
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS)
decrease
body weight gain
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
lessened
#1
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS)
decrease
serum triglycerides
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
lessened
#2
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS)
decrease
insulin resistance (IR)
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
lessened
#3
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS) at 10 mg/kg dose
decrease
mRNA expression of leptin gene
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
ameliorated
#4
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS) at 10 mg/kg dose
decrease
mRNA expression of visfatin gene
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
ameliorated
#5
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS) at 10 mg/kg dose
decrease
serum inflammatory cytokine levels
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
ameliorated
#6
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS)
decrease
hyperprolactinemia
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
corrected
#7
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS)
decrease
other hormonal disturbances
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
corrected
#8
Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS)
decrease
ovarian pathologies
female rats with diet-induced obesity
-
ameliorated
#9
high fat diet (HFD)
increase
body weight gain
obese control female rats (OFR)
-
greater than
#10
high fat diet (HFD)
increase
serum triglycerides
obese control female rats (OFR)
-
greater than
#11
high fat diet (HFD)
increase
insulin resistance (IR)
obese control female rats (OFR)
>5-fold
greater than
#12
Abstract

Tribulus terrestris saponins (TTS) have been longley used as an overall tonic and recent studies showed they influence inflammatory conditions. We examined the ameliorative effect of a commercial formula of a saponin-rich extract of TT in a model of dietary obesity in female rats focusing on their ability to control the inflammatory burden, insulin resistance (IR), adipokine expression and the related reproductive system pathologies. Female rats were fed with high fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks to launch diet-induced obesity; they were assigned as: the obese control female rats (OFR) which received no treatment and TTS (5 and 10 mg/kg/day) treated rats; they were compared to a normal rat group. We determined the IR index, serum/tissue inflammatory cytokines, and adipose tissue adipokine expression and examined the secondary ovarian pathologies. Body weight gain, serum triglycerides and IR (>5-fold) in the OFR group were greater than the normal group; TTS lessened these parameters compared with the OFR group. TTS, at 10 mg/kg dose, ameliorated mRNA expression of leptin and visfatin genes in addition to serum inflammatory cytokine levels. Moreover, TTS corrected the hyperprolactinemia and other hormonal disturbances and ameliorated the ovarian pathologies. This study highlighted that the anti-inflammatory properties of TTS helped in alleviation of IR and body weight gain in OFR. Upon correction of obesity manifestations, the gonadal hormone dysregulations and ovarian pathologies were subsequently ameliorated. We can consider TTS as a promising candidate that may alleviate the inflammatory burden, IR and adipokine expression in obesity and hence prevent the secondary gonadal complications in female subjects if appropriate clinical studies are available.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
AdipokinesAnimalsBody WeightCytokinesDiet, High-FatDisease Models, AnimalFemaleGonadal DisordersHyperprolactinemiaInflammation MediatorsInsulin ResistanceObesityPlant ExtractsRatsRats, WistarSaponinsTribulusTriglyceridesWeight Gain
Study Links
Quality Scores
SafetyNot Assessed
Efficacy85/10
Quality75/10
Citation Metrics
Total Citations6
Citations/Year2.0
Relative Citation Ratio0.94
NIH Percentile47.8%
Research Impact Scores
APT Score0.25
Weight Score1.83
Normalized Score0.69
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