Obesity is defined as an excessive fat accumulation that causes metabolic syndrome such as diabetes, hypertension, and abnormal cholesterol levels. Adipocytes are a major part of the adipose tissue that grows the abnormal lipid droplets which leads to fat accumulation. In modern drugs, treating obesity without any side effects is challenging. Natural products such as plants and herbs are widely used to cure obesity. Natural products are safer because of their reduced toxicity and infrequent negative effects. This study focuses on examining the potential anti-adipogenesis effects of Elateriospermum tapos on 3T3-L1 cells. The extracts from both seed and shell of the fruit were extracted using hot, cold and ethanol extraction. The extracts were tested for the cytotoxicity on 3T3-L1 cells and on zebrafish embryo in vivo. Zebrafish study on heartbeat, heart rate and scoliosis formation, shell extract show less toxic compared to seed extract. This shell extracts showed a positive correlation determination of R2 = 0.96. Therefore, shell extracts were used to indicate the maximum non-toxic dose (MNTD) of each extraction. The lowest MNTD was observed in ethanol extract at 5.2 ± 0.01 µg/mL, hot extract at 7.6 ± 0.25 µg/mL and cold extract at 8.1 ± 0.31 µg/mL. Oil Red O staining to determine the amount of lipid accumulation showed a significant (P < 0.05) decrease of 70% when compared to adipocytes when treated with ethanol shell extract, and a significant (P < 0.05) decrease of 60% by hot shell extract. With the reduction in lipid accumulation, lipolysis was measured by accounting the amount of glycerol produced. The highest production of glycerol was significant when treated with hot shell extract at 42 mg/L, followed by cold extract at 38 mg/L. This is concluded that the hot shell extract has potential to curb obesity by reducing lipid accumulation through lipolysis at a maximum non-toxic dosage.

Introduction: The incidence and complications of hyperlipidemia associated co-morbidities and mortalities are grossly increasing globally. Intervention with natural products preparation has been identified as an alternative for the management of hyperlipidaemia and its related cardiovascular complications. This study investigated the anti-hyperlipidaemic activities of a mixture of Zinger officinale, Allium sativum, Citrus lemon, honey, and Malus domestica vinegar (ZACAH) extracts in in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats fed with high cholesterol diet. Methods: Thirty-six male SD rats were randomly distributed into 6 groups, including normal chow diet-fed (NC), high cholesterol diet (HCD), HCD+ Simvastatin (standard drug) while the remaining three groups were fed with HCD + ZACAH extracts at different doses (1, 3 and 5mg/kg body weight) for 18 weeks. Simvastatin at 10 mg/kg of bodyweight was used as control. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine phenolic compounds present in ZACAH extracts, elastase inhibitory assay was determined using spectrometric with a substrate (N-Succ-(Ala)3-pnitroanilide (SANA) while 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) was performed based by the method described by Blois, 1958. Results: In vitro; ZACAH extracts had oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) value of 2000 µmol TE/100 mL, total phenolic content (TPC) of 7537 ± 54.5%, DPPH free radical scavenging activity of 27.34 ± 2.71%, elastase inhibitory assay of 29.29 ± 1.65% and lipoxygenase inhibitory assay of 98.58 ± 1.42%. In vivo, ZACAH extracts showed decreased bodyweight, adipose tissue, improved lipid profiles and hepatic biochemical enzymes. Conclusion: These results suggested that ZACAH extracts supplementation improved hyperlipidaemia in SD rats and might be a promising adjuvant for the treatment of hyperlipidaemia.