Pepper and cinnamon improve cold induced cognitive impairment via increasing non-shivering thermogenesis; a study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Effect of cold exposure on core body temperature before and after green tea/spice treatment following NOT. *indicates significant difference between before and after treatment; #indicates significant difference between control and treated groups. p < .05.

Figure 2. Effect of cold exposure and green tea/spice treatment on the levels of reduced glutathione in BAT, brain, muscle and liver of rats subjected to NOT. *indicates significantly different from control. p < .05.

Table 1. Effect of cold exposure and spice/green tea treatment on changes in norepinephrine and free fatty acid levels in rats subjected to NOT.

Group	Norepinephrine (ng/dL)	Free fatty acids (µM/dL)
RT sedentary group
Control	270 ± 10.7	151 ± 12.1
Green tea	460 ± 15.2*	185 ± 18.9*
Pepper	340 ± 6.1*	197 ± 9.4*
Cinnamon	410 ± 21.6*	189 ± 10.5*
CT sedentary group
Control	570 ± 24.6	204 ± 17.3^#
Green tea	890 ± 19.1*#	298 ± 18.9*#
Pepper	740 ± 30.7*#	265 ± 11.2*#
Cinnamon	790 ± 15.2*#	241 ± 7.8*#

*indicates significant difference between control and treated groups;

#indicates significant difference between respective RT and CT groups. p < .05.

Figure 3. Effect of cold exposure and green tea/spice treatment on the MDA levels in BAT, brain, muscle and liver of rats subjected to NOT. *indicates significantly different from control. p < .05.

Table 2. Effect of cold exposure and green tea/spice treatment on the levels of reduced glutathione in BAT, brain, muscle and liver of rats subjected to NOT.

Group	BAT (µM/mg protein)	Brain (µM/mg protein)	Muscle (µM/mg protein)	Liver (µM/mg protein)
RT Sedentary group
Control	1.42 ± 0.22	0.23 ± 0.02	0.91 ± 0.14	5.61 ± 0.21
Green tea	3.37 ± 0.20*	0.42 ± 0.07	1.63 ± 0.18	8.32 ± 0.34*
Pepper	2.99 ± 0.19*	0.40 ± 0.04	1.32 ± 0.17	7.28 ± 0.41*
Cinnamon	2.02 ± 0.14	0.35 ± 0.03	1.45 ± 0.21	7.13 ± 0.10*
CT Sedentary group
Control	2.01 ± 0.09	0.29 ± 0.03	1.20 ± 0.10	6.99 ± 0.19
Green tea	4.99 ± 0.31*	0.50 ± 0.02	2.13 ± 0.11*	10.71 ± 0.31*
Pepper	3.20 ± 0.24*	0.46 ± 0.03	1.98 ± 0.20	9.67 ± 0.87*
Cinnamon	2.98 ± 0.42*	0.42 ± 0.04	1.81 ± 0.13	9.20 ± 0.54*
RT NOT group
Control	1.24 ± 0.33	0.26 ± 0.03	0.99 ± 0.14	6.64 ± 0.31
Green tea	2.99 ± 0.09*	0.47 ± 0.03*	1.87 ± 0.07*	8.47 ± 0.47*
Pepper	2.01 ± 0.15*	0.39 ± 0.04	1.25 ± 0.08	7.98 ± 0.52*
Cinnamon	3.38 ± 0.28*	0.41 ± 0.02*	1.48 ± 0.13	7.69 ± 0.21*
CT NOT group
Control	2.03 ± 0.26	0.30 ± 0.03	1.63 ± 0.09	7.62 ± 0.10
Green tea	4.08 ± 0.28*	0.50 ± 002*	2.98 ± 0.18*	8.94 ± 0.09*
Pepper	2.99 ± 0.10*	0.38 ± 0.03	2.67 ± 0.12*	9.01 ± 0.31*
Cinnamon	3.21 ± 0.22*	0.43 ± 0.01*	2.77 ± 0.10*	8.90 ± 0.24*

*indicates significantly different from control.

p < .05.

Figure 4. Effect of cold exposure and green tea/spice treatment on the SOD activity in BAT, brain, muscle and liver of rats subjected to NOT. *indicates significantly different from control. p < .05.

Figure 5. Effect of cold exposure and green tea/spice treatment on the CAT activity in BAT, brain, muscle and liver of rats subjected to NOT. *indicates significantly different from control. p < .05.

Figure 6. Effect of cold exposure and green tea/spice treatment on the expression of UCP1 levels in BAT of rats subjected to NOT. *indicates significantly different from control. p < .05.

Figure 7. Effect of cold exposure and green tea/spice treatment on the expression of BDNF levels in brain of rats subjected to NOT. *indicates significantly different from control. p < .05.