AUTHOR=Guimarães Andressa Cardoso , de Moura Egberto Gaspar , Silva Stephanie Giannini , Lopes Bruna Pereira , Bertasso Iala Milene , Pietrobon Carla Bruna , Quitete Fernanda Torres , de Oliveira Malafaia Tayanne , Souza Érica Patrícia Garcia , Lisboa Patrícia Cristina , de Oliveira Elaine 

TITLE=Citrus aurantium L. and synephrine improve brown adipose tissue function in adolescent mice programmed by early postnatal overfeeding

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2023.1278121

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2023.1278121

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction and aims</title><p>Obesity is a multifactorial condition with high health risk, associated with important chronic disorders such as diabetes, dyslipidemia, and cardiovascular dysfunction. <italic>Citrus aurantium</italic> L. (<italic>C. aurantium</italic>) is a medicinal plant, and its active component, synephrine, a β-3 adrenergic agonist, can be used for weight loss. We investigated the effects of <italic>C. aurantium</italic> and synephrine in obese adolescent mice programmed by early postnatal overfeeding.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Three days after birth, male Swiss mice were divided into a small litter (SL) group (3 pups) and a normal litter (NL) group (9 pups). At 30 days old, SL and NL mice were treated with <italic>C. aurantium</italic> standardized to 6% synephrine, <italic>C. aurantium</italic> with 30% synephrine, isolated synephrine, or vehicle for 19 days.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The SL group had a higher body weight than the NL group. Heart rate and blood pressure were not elevated. The SL group had hyperleptinemia and central obesity that were normalized by <italic>C. aurantium</italic> and synephrine. In brown adipose tissue, the SL group showed a higher lipid droplet sectional area, less nuclei, a reduction in thermogenesis markers related to thermogenesis (UCP-1, PRDM16, PGC-1α and PPARg), and mitochondrial disfunction. <italic>C. aurantium</italic> and synephrine treatment normalized these parameters.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Our data indicates that the treatment with <italic>C. aurantium</italic> and synephrine could be a promising alternative for the control of some obesity dysfunction, such as improvement of brown adipose tissue dysfunction and leptinemia.</p></sec>