The Effect of Rice Bran Extract on Arterial Blood Pressure, Hepatic Steatosis, and Inflammation in Mice Fed with a High-Fat Diet.

BACKGROUND: Inflammation and hypertension are primary mechanisms involving in obesity-associated adverse effects of a high-fat diet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of rice bran extract (RBE) on arterial blood pressure, hepatic steatosis, inflammation, and oxidative stress in high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice. METHODS: Male ICR mice were divided into four groups, including a normal-diet control group, a high-fat diet (HFD) (60% kcal from fat) group, an HFD group treated with RBE (220 mg/kg/day), and an HFD group treated with 1100 mg/kg/day for eight weeks. Besides body weight and arterial blood pressure, we determined liver values of total cholesterol, triglyceride, as well as percent body fat, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), malondialdehyde (MDA), nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), matrix metalloprotease-9 (MMP-9), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and mRNA endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). RESULTS: The HFD group had increased body weight, increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure, liver total cholesterol, triglyceride, NF-κB, COX-2 and MMP-9 protein levels, and decreased mRNA eNOS in the aorta. Mice of the HFD group receiving RBE had reduced diastolic blood pressure, as well as significantly decreased liver and serum TNF-α and MDA levels in the liver, and reduced NF-κB levels in both the liver and heart. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that RBE decreases diastolic blood pressure, the liver lipid droplet accumulation, liver and myocardial NF-κB, myocardial COX-2 and MMP-9 protein levels, and oxidative stress. Moreover, RBE may improve endothelial function and may alleviate adverse health effects associated with obesity including obesity-associated hypertension.

Corrigendum to "The Effect of Rice Bran Extract on Arterial Blood Pressure, Hepatic Steatosis, and Inflammation in Mice Fed with a High-Fat Diet".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2020/8374287.].

Vasoprotective effects of rice bran water extract on rats fed with high-fat diet

Objective: To elucidate the protective effects of rice bran water extract on the expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kB), and a cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36) in the vasculature of high-fat diet-fed rats. Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups. Group I served as control, Group II was treated with high-fat diet, and Group III was treated with high-fat diet and rice bran water extract at 2 205 mg/kg/day. After four weeks, the metabolic parameters, malondialdehyde as a marker of oxidative stress, and histological features of the aorta were evaluated. The levels of transcripts and proteins in aorta were determined by real-time PCR and Western blot analysis, respectively. Results: In comparison with the Group II, rice bran water extract administration resulted in a significant reduction in body weight, visceral fat tissue weights, blood glucose levels, and serum total-cholesterol and free fatty acid levels in Group III. Serum triglyceride levels tended to decrease in the Group III. Also, rice bran water extract administration obviously decreased malondialdehyde levels in both serum and aorta. Interestingly, rice bran water extract treatment demonstrated a significant up-regulation of eNOS expression and down-regulation of NF-kB p65 and CD36 expressions. Nonetheless, all groups showed normal histology of aorta. Conclusions: Rice bran water extract exhibited vasoprotective effects in the high-fat diet-induced obesity condition by modulating the expression of eNOS, NF-kB, and CD36 and metabolic parameters.

Anti-Inflammatory, Analgesic, and Antipyretic Activities of the Ethanol Extract of Piper interruptum Opiz. and Piper chaba Linn.

Piper interruptum Opiz. and Piper chaba Linn. are herbaceous plants in the Piperaceae family. The ethanol extract of P. interruptum and P. chaba inhibited ethyl phenylpropiolate-induced ear edema and carrageenan-induced hind paw edema in rats. Both extracts reduced transudative and granuloma weights as well as body weight gain and thymus weight of the chronic inflammatory model using cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation in rats. Moreover, both extracts exhibited analgesic activity on both early phase and late phase of formalin test in mice and also showed antipyretic activity on yeast-induced hyperthermia in rats.

Phenolic and flavonoid contents of Thai rice extracts and their correlation with antioxidant activities using chemical and cell assays.

BACKGROUND: Free radicals induce oxidative stress in various cell components, leading to certain diseases. Plant-derived antioxidants have become a profitable alternative to prevent oxidative stress in cells due to adverse effects of some synthetic antioxidants. OBJECTIVE: To determine the total phenolic and flavonoid contents and to evaluate the correlation between these two compounds and their antioxidant properties in the ethanolic extracts of brown rice and rice bran from Thai rice cultivars: Sangyod red rice and Dawk Mali 105 white rice using the chemical and cell assays. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Total phenolic and flavonoid contents in all of the rice ethanolic extracts were determined using the colorimetric assays, as well as their antioxidant activity was analyzed through two chemical assays: DPPH radical-scavenging and inhibition of lipid peroxidation assays, as well as through a cell-based assay: scavenging capacity against intracellular superoxide in cells using DCF. RESULTS: All the rice extracts displayed their antioxidant activities in a dose dependent manner through different assays, which were expressed as EC50 values. The DPPH scavenging assay revealed very high scavenging activity in both Sangyod brown rice and rice bran extracts. Positive correlations between this activity and total phenolic and flavonoid contents suggest the major free radical scavenging activity of such compounds. In contrast, the ethanolic extract of Sangyod rice bran exhibited non-significant anti-lipid peroxidation activity relative to that of Sangyod brown rice and Dawk Mali 105 rice bran. Phenolic content was correlated to some extent with anti-lipid peroxidation activity, whereas flavonoid content and such activity showed a relatively weak correlation. Importantly, the cell-based assay also detected potent scavenging activity against superoxide production in HL-60 cells pretreated with Sangyod extracts. The content of phenolics was a major contributor to this scavenging activity including that of flavonoids but to a lesser extent. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that ethanolic extracts of brown rice and rice bran of Sangyod red rice can be promising sources of potential natural antioxidants.

Toxicity evaluation of sappan wood extract in rats.

BACKGROUND: The heartwood of Caesalpinia sappan L. or sappan wood has long been used in folk medicines to treat tuberculosis, diarrhea, dysentery, skin infections and anemia. OBJECTIVE: To study the acute and subacute toxicities of sappan wood extract in rats. MATERIAL AND METHOD: For studying acute toxicity, a single oral dose of 5000 mg/kg of sappan wood was administered to rats. Subacute toxicity was studied by the daily oral administration of the extract at the doses of 250, 500 and 1000 mg/kg body weight for consecutive 30 days. RESULTS: The extract of sappan wood (5000 mg/kg) showed no toxicity in terms of general behavior change, mortality, or change in gross appearance of internal organs. Subacute toxicity study showed no abnormalities in treatment groups as compared to the controls. Body and organ weights, hematological, blood chemical, necropsy, and histopathological parameter of all groups were similar. CONCLUSION: Sappan wood extract did not produce any acute or subacute toxicity in both female and male rats.

Determination of phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and antioxidant activities in water extracts of Thai red and white rice cultivars.

BACKGROUND: Free radical-induced oxidative stress damages cellular components leading to many human diseases. Plant-derived antioxidant compounds have become a profitable alternative to prevent oxidative stress in cells. OBJECTIVE: To determine and compare total phenolic and flavonoid contents as well as antioxidant activity using both chemical and cell assays in the water extracts of brown rice and rice bran from two Thai rice cultivars: Sangyod, a red pigmented rice typically grown in Southern Thailand and Dawk Mali 105, a commercial white-colored rice. MATERIAL AND METHOD: All the rice water extracts were analyzed for their total phenolic and flavonoid contents using the colorimetric assays, as well as for their antioxidant activity through two chemical assays: DPPH radical-scavenging and inhibition of lipid peroxidation assays, as well as through cell-based assays: scavenging capacity of intracellular ROS in HL60 cells using the fluorescent DCF and the NBT reduction. RESULTS: The two chemical assays detected free radical scavenging and free radical chain breaking activities in all the rice extracts with EC50 values ranging from 26 to 357 microg/ml. Moreover, the cell-based assays detected ROS scavenging activities of these extracts with EC50 values in the range of 0.6-5 mg/ml. All these assays indicated that the water extracts of Sangyod exerted significantly higher antioxidant activity than those of Dawk Mali 105, which exhibited only moderate to low activity. Furthermore, high levels of antioxidant activity of the water extracts of Sangyod were closely correlated to their flavonoid and phenolic contents, which were approximately 2.5 and 3 times higher, respectively, than those of Dawk Mali 105. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that water extracts from colored brown rice or colored rice bran can be promising sources of potential natural antioxidants.

Lipid lowering efficacy between morning and evening simvastatin treatment: a randomized double-blind study.

OBJECTIVES: To compare lipid-lowering efficacy and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) level between morning and evening simvastatin administration in hyperlipidemia subjects. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A randomized double blind controlled trial was conducted in 52 dyslipidemia subjects. A group of twenty five subjects received 10 mg simvastatin in the morning and placebo in the evening. The other group of twenty seven subjects received vice versa. Serum lipid profiles were evaluated every 4 weeks for the total course of 12 weeks. High sensitive CRP was measured at the beginning and the end of the study. RESULTS: Baseline LDL levels were similar in both groups (p = 0.95). The evening simvastatin group had significantly less low density lipoprotein level (LDL) than the morning group at 4 weeks (112 +/- 26.1 mg/dl vs. 136.3 +/- 32 mg/dl, p = 0.001) and 8 weeks after treatment (109.7 +/- 28 mg/dl vs. 129.5 +/- 27 mg/dl, p = 0.006). Difference in LDL after 12th week between two groups was not significant (p = 0.23). Triglyceride and HDL level were not different in both groups. Only evening simvastatin administration could significantly decrease hsCRP (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: Simvastatin should be taken in the evening. Although lipid profiles were not statistically different in morning and nighttime simvastatin, the inflammatory marker (hsCRP level) is significantly reduced as a result of evening simvastatin administration.