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Obesity and its associated chronic, low-grade inflammation are major drivers of global metabolic diseases, including hyperlipidemia and fatty liver disease. Clerodendrum infortunatum, also known as 白花灯笼 (Bai Hua Deng Long) in Chinese medicine, is a traditional drug. The purpose of this work was to examine the anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, and hepatoprotective properties of Clerodendrum infortunatum leaf extract (CIE) in an obese mouse model produced by a high-sugar diet (HSD) and to identify the underlying molecular mechanisms. Swiss Albino mice were fed HSD for six weeks to make them obese and then treated concurrently with HSD and CIE (200 and 400 mg/kg) for an additional fourteen days. We assessed how CIE affected lipid indices of cardiovascular risk, body weight, fat accumulation, serum lipid profile, and liver enzyme levels. RT-qPCR was used to examine the molecular response in adipose tissue for adhesion molecules and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Lastly, molecular docking was used to evaluate the 17 phytoconstituents of CIE against four important targets: COX-2, MCP-1, PPAR-γ, and TNF-α. CIE treatment significantly suppressed the HSD-induced increment in body weight, abdominal fat mass, and organ weights. It improved the serum lipid profile and significantly reduced liver enzyme levels. At the molecular level, CIE markedly attenuated the HSD-induced mRNA expression levels of Ptgs2, Tnf, Il6, Vcam1, and Selp . In silico analysis identified Retinoic acid as the most potent binder, demonstrating a competitive affinity for COX-2 and PPAR-γ, and a superior affinity for MCP-1 compared to their respective reference inhibitors. CIE effectively suppresses obesity, dyslipidemia, and adipose tissue inflammation. The mechanism is plausibly linked to the multi-target inhibitory potential of Retinoic acid against key inflammatory and metabolic receptors.
Ray et al. (Fri,) studied this question.