Introduction:
Green tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world and its antioxidant properties have widely explored. Its active ingredients (polyphenols) are believed to be responsible for most of green tea's roles in promoting good health. Obesity and its associated metabolic disorders is an increasingly prevalent condition in different societies.
Aim of the work:
The aim of this work is to study the effect of diet induced obesity on the histological structure of adipocytse and to evaluate the possible protective role of green tea.
Material and Methods:
Forty adult male rats were divided into 3 groups. Group I. (control group, n= 10 rats) were given balanced diet for 6 weeks. Group II. (n= 10 rats): were given high energy fatty diet for 6 weeks and served as affected group. Group III. (green tea group, n=20 rats) were divided into 2 subgroups (10 rats each); Subgroup IIIa (Low dose group), were given high energy fatty diet for 6 weeks and low dose of green tea extract (325 mg/kg/day) by an oral tube for the last 4 weeks. Subgroup IIIb (High dose group), were given high energy fatty diet for 6 weeks and high dose of green tea extract (500 mg/kg/day) by an oral tube for the last 4 weeks. After 6 weeks the animals were weighed, sacrificed and specimens from perinephric fat were prepared for LM (sudan III and osmic acid stains) and EM (transmission and scanning electron microscopic) studies. The mean area of unilocular fat cells (µm2) were measured and statistically studied.
Results:
There were significant increase in body weight and marked adipocyte morphological and cytological changes (size of adipocytes, saturated fatty acids within fat cells and increased mitochondrial content) in group II and group IIIa compared to control group. Such effects were ameliorated by concomitant administration of high dose green tea extract in group IIIb.
Conclusion:
It could be concluded that, high dose green tea extract is effective in lowering the increased body weigh by high energy fatty diet. So it is advised to consider a high dose of green tea extract as an effective against diet induced obesity through its effect on size and structure of adipocyte.
Key Words: Adipocytes – Green tea – Obesity
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