A dietary vegetable, Moringa oleifera leaves (drumstick tree) induced fat cell apoptosis by inhibiting adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

Abstract

M. oleifera belonging to the family Moringaceae is an effective remedy for malnutrition and it’s often referred as panacea because it cures more than 300 diseases. It’s widely been used by Indians and Africans. In our present study, Moringa oleifera leaf extract (MLE) has been explored for the ability to alleviate adipogenesis and promote apoptosis in 3T3-L1 cells. Iso-quercetin was a major component isolated from the leaves of M. oleifera. The anti-obesity and apoptotic effect of iso-quercetin was identified by performing molecular docking studies. The iso-quercetin and MLE showed anti-proliferative activity at the concentration of 4.95 µg/mL and 280.5 µg/mL respectively. The expression of adipogenesis related genes were downregulated with increased concentration of MLE treatment and caused the decreased accumulation of triglyceride content. Furthermore, MLE induced apoptosis in adipocyte cells were confirmed by TUNEL, Hoechst and PI staining. The apoptosis pathway related pathway genes such as BAX, BCL2 were also studied. Upon MLE treatment, BAX, a pro-apoptotic protein was up-regulated and BCL2, an anti-apoptotic protein was down-regulated and showed increased activity of caspase 3 indicating that apoptosis of adipocyte cells. Overall, we have demonstrated that the leaves of M. oleifera may reduce adipocyte formation by promoting apoptosis and thus can be considered as functional food for controlling obesity.