THE ANTI-OBESITY PLANT BACCHARIS TRIMERA (LESS.) DC SHOWS ANTIADIPOGENIC EFFECT BY INHIBITING THE EXPRESSION OF PROTEINS INVOLVED IN ADIPOCYTE DIFFERENTIATION.
Baccharis trimera, Adipogenesis, Antioxidant, adipogenic transcriptional factors, chlorogenic acid
Baccharis trimera (Less.) DC (gorse) is popularly used to produce a tonic that is consumed against obesity. In this study, we obtained three Baccharis extracts, aquous (AE), decoction (AE-D) and methanol (ME) and their antioxidant in six different tests and their anti-adipogenic effect in 3T3-L1 cells were investigated. The extracts showed antioxidant activity in all tests in dose-dependent way. AE was the most potent in copper and ferric ions chelation assays whereas AE-D was most potent in superoxide and hydroxyl radical scavenging assay, reducing power assay, and total antioxidant capacity. Only ME showed cytotoxic effect against 3T3-L1 cells. Lipid accumulation decreased in 3T3-L1 adipocytes in the presence of extracts (from 0.5 to 1.0 mg/mL). In addition, they attenuated dramatically the levels of adipogenic transcriptional factors, C/EBPα, C/EBPβ and PPARγ, during adipogenesis. AE-D (1.0 mg/mL) highlighting that caused ~90% reduction of the levels of these molecules. Chemical analysis revealed chlorogenic acid the main anti-adipogenic active compound in AE-D and AE. We propose that B. trimera has anti-adipogenic effect and we provided scientific evidences for its efficacy in the development for functional foods.