Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) leaf extract improves metabolic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in skeletal muscles in a metabolic syndrome experimental model

Abstract

Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), inflammation and oxidative stress contribute to impairment of skeletal muscle function. Bergamot (Citrus bergamia) leaf extract (BLE) has shown protective effects against comorbidities associated with MetS through its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. The aim of this work was to elucidate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of BLE in skeletal muscles in an experimental model of MetS. Once metabolic syndrome was diagnosed, animals were divided into groups receiving different treatments for 10 weeks, including control diet (n = 10), control + BLE (n = 10), High Sugar-fat diet (HSF) (n = 10), HSF + BLE (n = 10). Evaluation included nutritional, metabolic and hormonal analyses, along with measurements of inflammatory status and oxidative stress in soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles. BLE showed positive metabolic effects, with a reduction of plasma triglycerides and insulin resistance and an increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and protective activity against oxidative stress and inflammation in Soleus and EDL muscles in animals with MetS.

Keywords:

• Metabolic syndrome
• bioactive compounds
• oxidative stress
• inflammation

Acknowledgement

The authors thank Universitá degli Studi di Milano.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) under grant [2021/00661-3].