Abstract

ANTIOBESITY POTENTIAL OF CLERODENDRUM PHLOMIDIS LINN AND GARCINIA CAMBOGIA LINN –A COMPARATIVE ANIMAL MODEL STUDY

S. Gopinathan* & D. Naveenraj

Abstract

Obesity is one of the major health concerns in the 21st century and it is a major and leading cause of coronary heart diseases, stroke, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis and certain cancers. Available literature survey reveals that plant based drugs are much sought after therapeutic agents to prevent and cure many diseases including obesity. Objective: To evaluate the antiobesity potential of the Clerodendrum phlomidis leaf extract and its activity was compared with a known herbal antiobesity drug, Garcinia cambogia fruit extract in High Fat Diet (HFD) induced obese animal model. Orlistat was used as standard drug. Methods: Oral administration of Clerodendrum phlomidis leaf extract and Garcinia cambogia fruit extract (400mg/kg-bw) on HFD induced obese rats were taken for assessing (1) Behavioral parameters: ambulation, rearing and grooming; (2) Physiological parameters: weight of the animals, organs, fat pads and body temperature; (3) Biochemical parameters: blood glucose, total protein, Total lipids, free fatty acids and uric acid; (4) Liver function markers: AST, ALT and ALP and (5) Lipid profiles: serum cholesterol, serum triglycerides, LDLc, VLDLc, and HDLc. Results: HFD induced obesity to rats, and the obese rats, showed significant increase in the levels of physiological and biochemical parameters, liver function markers and lipid profiles and co-administration of Clerodendrum phlomidis leaf extract and Garcinia cambogia fruit extract significantly reduced the levels of all parameters and brought back normalcy. But the levels of total protein and HDLc were decreased in obese rats and the same were increased up to the levels of healthy rats after the administration of plant drugs. The animals treated with standard drug-Orlistat, also showed ameliorating effect in the obese rats. Conclusion: The present study revealed that Clerodendrum phlomidis leaf extract is a effective antiobesity drug and its efficacy was comparable with a known antiobesity plant drug, Garcinia cambogia fruit extract and a standard drug, Orlistat. It is already recorded that (-) hydroxy citric acid is the active phytochemical available in Garcinia cambogia fruit extract, which is responsible for its antiobesity activity. In the present study ursolic acid was isolated and identified as pharmacologically active compound in Clerodendrum phlomidis leaf extract for its antiobesity activity.

Keywords: Clerodendrum phlomidis, Garcinia cambogia, Orlistat, hydroxy citric acid, ursolic acid, antiobesity activity.