Title

The Effect of Piper sarmentosum on the Epicardial Fat of the Dexamethasone Treated Sprague-Dawley Rats.

Authors

Siong, Tioh Beng; Ahmad, Muhammad Aizuddin Bin; Isa, Siti Nor Badriah Binti; Jores, Drend Anak; Kadir, Hasni Syamila Binti Abdul; Pin, Phoong Yee; Othman, Faizah; Suhaimi, Farihah Haji

Abstract

Objective: Medical treatments using dexamethasone exposes the body to a higher level of glucocorticoid, which then causes increased body adiposity, hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance. It leads to obesity and further increases the epicardial fat thickness. This "ectopic fat storage syndrome" in the heart will subsequently contribute to the development of cardiovascular diseases. Piper sarmentosum, locally known as Kaduk is a traditional herb rich in natural antioxidants but its effectiveness of inhibiting the "ectopic fat storage syndrome" has not been studied. Therefore, it is our interest to determine the effect of Piper sarmentosum on the histological changes and histomorphometry in the architecture of the epicardial fat of the dexamethasone treated male adrenalectomized rats. Methods: Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats, (2 months old) were divided into Baseline (B), Sham-operated (S), Adrenalectomized Control (C) and Adrenalectomized Piper sarmentosum (K) groups. Only the C and K groups received daily treatment of intramuscular dexamethasone (120 µg/kg/day) for a period of two months. Group K also received Piper sarmentosum extract (0.125 g/kg/day) during the same period. The animals were sacrificed and the heart tissues were taken and fixed in 10% formalin for light microscopy. Results: Results demonstrated that the epicardial fat thickness (p < 0.05) and adipocytes number (p < 0.05) in K were significantly reduced when compared with C. Conclusion: Thus, these results imply that there is a potential role for Piper sarmentosum in inhibiting or delaying the "ectopic fat storage syndrome" in dexamethasone treatment.

Subjects

HEART physiology; ADIPOSE tissues; ANALYSIS of variance; ANIMAL experimentation; ANTI-inflammatory agents; BIOLOGICAL models; MEDICINAL plants; OBESITY; RATS; RESEARCH funding; STEROIDS; PHARMACODYNAMICS; DRUG side effects

Publication

International Medical Journal, 2010, Vol 17, Issue 3, p223

ISSN

1341-2051

Publication type

Academic Journal