Abstract

INVESTIGATION OF ANTI-OBESITY ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF FOENICULUM VULGARE SEEDS, IN VIVO AND IN SILICO MODELS

Dina A. Ghinmy*, Mazin Y Alsafi, Reem M. Al bashir, Tasnim O. Elsammani, Yosra A M. Alshreef, Tarig M.H. El-Hadiyah1 and Ali A. Saeed

ABSTRACT

Background: Obesity is a chronic disease that triggers metabolic disorders due to excessive internal fat accumulation. Foeniculum vulgare (FV) is a very popular medicinal plant used to control obesity in the traditional medicine without any scientific evidence. Objectives: To evaluate the anti-obesity and anti-hyperlipidimic activity of ethanolic extract of Foeniculum vulgare seeds in vivo and identify the possible mechanism of action using molecular docking that is performed on plant constituent to target leptin receptor. Material and Methods: 16 albino rats were divided into four groups; group 1: none obese rats received (0.2 ml) normal saline daily, group 2: obesity control treated with modified High-fat hyper caloric diet, group 3: received plant extract (200 mg/kg) daily (I.P), and group 4: received Orlistat (2mg/kg) orally. Rats’ body weight and Lipid profile were assayed. For Molecular docking, ligands were obtained from previous studies, screening was performed using structure-based drug design against phytochemical constituent of Foeniculum vulgare, molecular modelling was done using Auto Dock Vina; only best conformers ligands with highest and best score was selected. Results: Reduction in rat’s body weights produced by Foeniculum vulgare ethanolic seed extract was12%, while Orlistat produced 6.4%. Triglycerides level wasn’t affected by treatment with plant extract and Orlistat. Molecular docking shows that Stigmast-5-en-3-ol have stronger binding at the leptin receptor’s binding site (-6.1 kcal/mol) when analyzed using AutoDockVina. Conclusion: Finally, this study concluded that Foeniculum vulgare ethanolic seeds extract demonstrate promising action as anti-obesity remedy since it shows a significant reduction in rat body weight and correct lipid profile, which provide scientific rationale for its folkloric use. Molecular docking suggests that the Stigmast-5-en-3-ol is a good candidate as leading compound for management of obesity disorders.

Keywords: Anti-Obesity, Foeniculum vulgare, leptin, stigmast-5-en-3-ol and Obesity Model.