Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Ethanolic Extract from (Bertol.) DC., Quercetin, and Anti-Obesity Drugs in Adipose Tissue in Wistar Rats with Diet-Induced Obesity.

Obesity is characterized by the excessive accumulation of fat, which triggers a low-grade chronic inflammatory process. Currently, the search for compounds with anti-obesogenic effects that help reduce body weight, as well as associated comorbidities, continues. Among this group of compounds are plant extracts and flavonoids with a great diversity of action mechanisms associated with their beneficial effects, such as anti-inflammatory effects and/or as signaling molecules. In the bark of tree, there are different classes of metabolites with anti-inflammatory properties, such as quercetin. Therefore, the present work studied the effect of the ethanolic extract of and quercetin on the mRNA of inflammation markers in obesity compared to the drugs currently used. Total RNA was extracted from epididymal adipose tissue of high-fat diet-induced obese Wistar rats treated with orlistat, phentermine, extract, and quercetin. The rats treated with and quercetin showed 36 and 31% reductions in body weight compared to the obese control, and they likewise inhibited pro-inflammatory molecules: , , , , , and without modifying the expression of and . Additionally, only overexpressed . Both and quercetin led to a reduction in the expression of pro-inflammatory genes, modifying signaling pathways, which led to the regulation of the obesity-inflammation state.