Different Seasonal Collections of Ficus carica L. Leaves Diversely Modulate Lipid Metabolism and Adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes.

Due to the high prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes, adipogenesis dysfunction and metabolic disorders are common features in the elderly population. Thus, the identification of novel compounds with anti-adipogenic and lipolytic effects is highly desirable to reduce diabetes complications. Plants represent an important source of bioactive compounds. To date, the antidiabetic potential of several traditional plants has been reported, among which Ficus carica L. is one of the most promising. Considering that plant metabolome changes in response to a number of factors including seasonality, the aim of this study was to evaluate whether Ficus carica leaves extracts collected in autumn (FCa) and spring (FCs) differently modulate lipid metabolism and adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The 1H-NMR profile of the extracts showed that FCs have a higher content of caffeic acid derivatives, glucose, and sucrose than FCa. In contrast, FCa showed a higher concentration of malic acid and furanocoumarins, identified as psoralen and bergapten. In vitro testing showed that only FCa treatments were able to significantly decrease the lipid content (Ctrl vs. FCa 25 µg/mL, 50 µg/mL and 80 µg/mL; p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, FCa treatments were able to downregulate the transcriptional pathway of adipogenesis and insulin sensitivity in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In more detail, FCa 80 µg/mL significantly decreased the gene expression of PPARγ (p < 0.05), C/EBPα (p < 0.05), Leptin (p < 0.0001), adiponectin (p < 0.05) and GLUT4 (p < 0.01). In conclusion, this study further supports an in-depth investigation of F. carica leaves extracts as a promising source of active compounds useful for targeting obesity and diabetes.

Competitive Ability Effects of Datura stramonium L. and Xanthium strumarium L. on the Development of Maize (Zea mays) Seeds.

The objective of this study was to explore the physical properties of maize seeds in competition with weeds. The basic and complex geometric characteristics of seeds from maize plants, competing with Datura stramonium L. (DS) or Xanthium strumarium (XS) at different weed densities, were studied. It was found that the basic and complex geometric characteristics of maize seeds, such as dimension, aspect ratio, equivalent diameter, sphericity, surface area and volume, were significantly affected by weed competition. The increase in weed density from 0 to 8 plants m2 resulted in an increase in the angle of repose from 27° to 29°, while increasing weed density from 8 to 16 plants m2 caused a diminution of the angle of repose down to 28°. Increasing the density of XS and DS to 16 plants m2 caused a reduction in the maximum 1000 seed weight of maize by 40.3% and 37.4%, respectively. These weed side effects must be considered in the design of industrial equipment for seed cleaning, grading and separation. To our knowledge, this is the first study to consider the effects of weed competition on maize traits, which are important in industrial processing such as seed aeration, sifting and drying.