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BACKGROUND: Obesity is a worldwide concern due to its global rapid expansion and remarkable impact on individual's health by predisposing to several other diseases. About twice as many women as men suffer from severe obesity and, in fact, there are stages in a woman's life when weight gain and adiposity can result in greater damage to health. For example, obesity triples the chance of a woman developing gestational diabetes. Many hormones promote the metabolic adaptations of pregnancy, including progesterone, whose role in female obesity is still not well known despite being involved in many physiological and pathological processes. METHODS: Here we investigated whether progesterone treatment at low dose can worsen the glucose metabolism and the morpho functional aspects of adipose tissue and pancreas in obese females. Mice were assigned into four groups: normocaloric diet control (NO-CO), high-fat and -fructose diet control (HFF-CO), normocaloric diet plus progesterone (NO-PG) and high-fat and -fructose diet plus progesterone (HFF-PG) for 10 weeks. Infusion of progesterone (0.25 mg/kg/day) was done by osmotic minipump in the last 21 days of protocol. RESULTS: Animals fed a hypercaloric diet exhibited obesity with increased body weight (p < 0.0001), adipocyte hypertrophy (p < 0.0001), hyperglycemia (p = 0.03), and glucose intolerance (p = 0.001). HFF-CO and HFF-PG groups showed lower adiponectin concentration (p < 0.0001) and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (p = 0.03), without differences in islet size. Progesterone attenuated glucose intolerance in the HFF-PG group (p = 0.03), however, did not change morphology or endocrine function of adipose tissue and pancreatic islets. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our results showed that low dose of progesterone does not worsen the effects of hypercaloric diet in glycemic metabolism, morphology and function of adipose tissue and pancreatic islets in female animals. These results may improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of obesity in women and eventually open new avenues for therapeutic strategies and better comprehension of the interactions between progesterone effects and obesity.

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Ludwigia octovalvis (Jacq.) P.H. Raven is widely used in traditional medicine for different illnesses, including diabetes and hypertension. However, its impact on lipotoxicity and metabolic syndrome in vivo has not been addressed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of this plant on the metabolic syndrome parameters in a C57BL6J mouse hypercaloric diet model. L. octovalvis hydroalcoholic extract and its ethyl acetate fraction (25 mg/kg/day) were used for sub-chronic assessment (10 weeks). Additionally, four subfractions (25 mg/kg) were evaluated in the postprandial triglyceridemia test in healthy C57BL6J mice. The hydroalcoholic extract and ethyl acetate fraction significantly decreased body weight gain (-6.9 g and -1.5 g), fasting glycemia (-46.1 and -31.2 mg/dL), systolic (-26.0 and -22.5 mmHg) and diastolic (-8.1 and 16.2 mmHg) blood pressure, free fatty acid concentration (-13.8 and -8.0 µg/mL) and insulin-resistance (measured by TyG index, -0.207 and -0.18), compared to the negative control. A postprandial triglyceridemia test showed that the effects in the sub-chronic model are due, at least in part, to improvement in this parameter. L. octovalvis treatments, particularly the hydroalcoholic extract, improve MS alterations and decrease free fatty acid concentration. These effects are possibly due to high contents of corilagin and ellagic acid.

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Pregnancy and lactation are important stages of fetal development. Therefore, this study investigated how different maternal diets offered during gestation and lactation periods affect adipose tissue inflammation and liver tissue oxidative stress of dams and their female offspring. Female BALB/c albino mice (60 days old) were randomized into three groups receiving a standard (CONT), hypercaloric (HD), or restricted (RD) diet during the pregnancy. After birth, female offspring weaned at 21 days were divided into two groups that received a standard or restricted diet (CONT/CONT, CONT/RD, RD/CONT, RD/RD, HD/CONT, and HD/RD) until 100 days old. Histological, oxidative parameters and inflammatory infiltrate of dams' and offspring's liver and adipose tissue were evaluated. HD dams presented non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) diagnosis and an increase in tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) concentrations when compared to the RD and CONT dams, indicating a pro-inflammatory state. High concentrations of malondialdehyde (MDA) formation and catalase (CAT) activity in HD when compared to the CONT in the liver. SOD activity decreased in RD mice compared to CONT, and the SOD/CAT ratio was decreased in the RD and HD in comparison to the CONT. The maternal diet leads to an increase in SOD in RD/RD compared to HD/RD. RD-fed dams showed an increase in inflammatory infiltrates compared to CONT, evidencing changes caused by a restrictive diet. In the HD/CONT offspring, we verified an increase in inflammatory infiltrates in relation to the offspring fed a standard diet. In conclusion, HD, and RD, during pregnancy and lactation, altered the liver and adipose tissues of mothers. Furthermore, the maternal diet negatively impacts the offspring's adipose tissue but does not cause liver damage in these animals in adult life.

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Obesity is linked to metabolic, hormonal and biochemical alterations, and is also a risk factor for behavioral disorders. Evidence suggests that these disorders may be related to the consumption of hypercaloric diets, fat mass accumulation and changes in inflammation and redox status. Although much is known about the chronic effects of hypercaloric diets on mental health, few studies have evaluated the consequences of short-term exposure of these diets on behavior. The aim of this study was to evaluate nutritional, behavioral (anxiety-like), inflammatory and redox status parameters in adult male Wistar rats exposed to short-term cafeteria diet. Adult Wistar male rats (90 days-old; n = 12/group) received, during 14 days, the diets: Control- standard diet; Simple Cafeteria Diet (SCD)- homogeneous cafeteria diet. Varied Cafeteria Diet (VCD)- cafeteria diet with rotation and variation. Nutritional analyzes and tests for anxiety-like behaviors were performed, in addition to inflammatory and redox status measurements in blood and amygdala. The SCD group showed higher fat energy intake, while the VCD group consumed more energy from carbohydrates. SCD and VCD showed higher fat mass accumulation, in addition to higher levels of TNFα, INFγ, TBARS and FRAP in the blood. Also, SCD and VCD groups reported high levels of TNFα in the amygdala. Regarding behavioral evaluations, SCD and VCD groups showed anxiogenesis in the elevated plus maze, light-dark box, and open field tests. Therefore, the two cafeteria diets induced obesity and systemic inflammation, which in turn, resulted in an increase in amygdala TNFα levels and anxiety-like behaviors in Wistar rats.

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Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of abnormalities related to insulin resistance with an unfortunately high prevalence worldwide. Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. Ex Kunth. is a well-known medicinal plant that has been studied in several biological models related to diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of T. stans on a hypercaloric diet-induced metabolic syndrome model. An organic fraction obtained using liquid-liquid separation from the hydroalcoholic extract of T. stans and four subfractions of this organic fraction were administered for ten weeks to C57BL6J male mice previously fed with a hypercaloric diet. The hypercaloric diet caused changes in glucose levels (from 65.3 to 221.5 mg/dL), body weight (31.3 to 42.2 g), triglycerides (91.4 to 177.7 mg/dL), systolic (89.9 to 110.3 mmHg) and diastolic (61.6 to 73.7 mg/dL) blood pressure, and insulin resistance (4.47 to 5.16). Treatment with T. stans resulted in improvements in triglycerides (83.4-125.0 mg/dL), systolic blood pressure (75.1-91.8 mmHg), and insulin resistance (4.72-4.93). However, the organic fraction and hydroalcoholic extract produced a better response in diastolic blood pressure (52.8-56.4 mmHg). Luteolin, apigenin, and chrysoeriol were the major constituents in the most active subfractions. Treatment with T. stans, particularly a luteolin-rich organic fraction, achieved an improvement in metabolic syndrome alterations.

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Stress and eating disorders are closely related and are a topic of major concern due to their burden on human health. Engaging in unhealthy eating habits may come as a result of stress, and it often serves to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety or as a distraction from the stressor itself or self-awareness. However, it can also lead to negative feelings of a person's body figure, guilty, or shame. As diverse as these consequences are in humans, so are the effects of the combined administration of stress and hypercaloric food in animals' models. In this study, we assessed the influence of individual innate behavioral predisposition on the effects of chronic unpredictable mild stress and the dietary supplementation with high-sugar/high-fat food. These conditions were applied to male Carioca low- and high-conditioned freezing (CLF and CHF) rats for 21 days. Behavioral results show that the hypercaloric supplement had a protective effect over the alterations caused by the stress. Notably, it was more strongly observed in CHF rather than CLF animals. As the chronic stress led to an impaired behavior in the contextual fear conditioning and the forced swimming tests in the CLF line, animals fed with the HSHF pellet scored responses similar to their untreated control. On CHF rats, these effects also were seen to a broader extent on the open field test, where the locomotor behavior was also increased. No major effects of the diet were seen in the unstressed groups. Overall, our results show that the influences of both chronic stress and hypercaloric feeding depend on innate differences in fear response traits of male Carioca rats.

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Maternal diet is key to the progeny's health since it may impact on the offspring's adult life. In this study, mice dams received standard (CONT), restrictive (RD), or hypercaloric (HD) diets during mating, pregnancy, and lactation. Male offspring of each group of dams also received these diets: CONT, RD, HD. Aiming to evaluate the oxidative stress in the adipose tissue, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities were analyzed in dams and offspring. In the adipose tissue and hypothalamus, gene expression of prolactin (Prlr) and estrogen alpha (Esr1) receptors was performed in dams and offspring. Protein expression of Stat5 was evaluated in the adipose tissue of the offspring from RD-fed dams. HD-fed dams increased triglycerides and leptin serum concentrations, and decreased SOD activity in the adipose tissue. In the offspring's adipose tissue, we observed a maternal diet effect caused by HD, with increased ROS production and SOD and CAT activities. Gene expression of Prlr and Esr1 in the offspring's adipose tissue was decreased due to maternal RD. Mice from HD-fed dams showed higher Stat5 expression compared to the offspring from CONT and RD dams in the adipose tissue. In the hypothalamus, we found decreased expression of Prlr in RD and HD dams, compared to CONT; and a maternal diet effect on Prlr and Esr1 gene expression in the offspring. In conclusion, we can affirm that maternal nutrition impacts the redox state and influences the gene expression of Prlr and Esr1, which are involved in energy metabolism, both peripherally and centrally in the adult life of the female offspring.

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INTRODUCTION: With the increase of chronic diseases as a consequence of the population's eating habits, there is also a growing interest in foods rich in bioactive compounds capable of mitigating these diseases. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the effects of supplementation with kombucha and green banana flour (GBF) on Wistar rats fed with cafeteria diet (CAF). METHODS: The animals were randomized into five groups of seven animals each, which were fed with the following diets: Treatment 1 (T1): Control treatment/commercial feed; Treatment 2 (T2): cafeteria diet (CAF); Treatment 3 (T3): CAF + kombucha; Treatment 4 (T4): CAF + green banana flour (GBF); Treatment 5 (T5): CAF + GBF + kombucha. Daily weight gain, daily food consumption, feed conversion, blood glucose, total cholesterol and fractions, triglycerides, liver enzymes, antioxidant activity, and body composition were evaluated. RESULTS: T5 presented lower feed intake and less weight gain. Liver histology revealed vacuolization in all treatments except T1, which was confirmed by the results of liver enzymes. There was no increase in blood glucose, and changes were observed in the lipid profile of the animals. T1 had the lowest body fat and the highest protein levels. Differences were observed for the antioxidant capacity in the liver of animals among treatments. CONCLUSION: The intake of cafeteria diet altered the lipid and liver profile of the animals and the consumption of kombucha and GBF did not prevent these changes. The high polyphenols level of kombucha did not exert a hepatoprotective effect as an antioxidant. However, this supplementation generated greater satiety in the animals, leading to less weight gain until the end of the experiment.

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This study aimed to characterize and correlate physiological and metabolic changes in horses fed a hypercaloric diet (HD). Nine mature horses with a mean initial body condition score of 2.9 ± 1 (scale, 1-9) were fed a high-calorie diet for 5 months. Fasting blood samples were collected before the study and biweekly for the duration of the project to determine the concentrations of cholesterol (CHOL), very low (VLDL), low (LDL) and high-density (HDL) lipoproteins, triglycerides, non-esterified fatty acids, and fructosamine. A low-dose oral glucose tolerance test (LGTT) was conducted before, 75 and 150 days after HD introduction. Mean arterial blood pressure was measured monthly. Following HD introduction, CHOL, LDL, HDL, and fructosamine blood concentrations increased (P < 0.001). These four variables were also positively and significantly correlated with the blood insulin response to LGTT. These findings confirm the occurrence of hypercholesterolemia concomitantly with insulin dysregulation development in horses exposed to HD.

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Metabolic syndrome (MetS) represents a cluster of related metabolic abnormalities, including central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, and insulin resistance. These metabolic derangements present significant risk factors for chronic kidney disease that carries to loss of essential micronutrients, which accelerates comorbidity apparition. The work aimed was to evaluate the trace element homeostasis regarding morphological adaptations and renal function in MetS early-onset. Fifty male Wistar rats were divided into two groups: (a) control group and (b) hypercaloric diet group that developed MetS early-onset after 3 months. Classical zoometric parameters do not show changes; however, biochemical modifications were observed such as hyperglycemia, protein glycation, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, and hypoadiponectinemia. MetS early-onset group observed renal structural modifications, but no functional changes. The structural modifications observed were minimal glomerular injury, glomerular basement membrane thickening, as well as mesangial and tubular cells that showed growth and proliferation. In serum and kidney (cortex and medulla), the concentrations of Zn, Fe, Cr, Mg, Mn, Cu, Co, and Ni were no differences between the experimental groups, but excretory fractions of these were lower in the hypercaloric diet group. In conclusion, MetS early-onset coexist renal structural modification and a hyperreabsorptive activity of essential trace elements that avoid its loss; thus, the excretory fraction of oligo-elements could be used a biomarker of early renal injury caused by metabolic diseases in the clinical practice.

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