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• Peixoto, J
• Comar, J
• Moreira, C
• Soares, A
• de Oliveira, A
• Bracht, A
• Peralta, R
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• Peixoto, J
• Comar, J
• Moreira, C
• Soares, A
• de Oliveira, A
• Bracht, A
• Peralta, R
• [+] on PubMed
• Peixoto, J
• Comar, J
• Moreira, C
• Soares, A
• de Oliveira, A
• Bracht, A
• Peralta, R

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Molecules 2012, 17(5), 5854-5869; doi:10.3390/molecules17055854

Article

Effects of Citrus aurantium (Bitter Orange) Fruit Extracts and p-Synephrine on Metabolic Fluxes in the Rat Liver

Jéssica Sereno Peixoto, Jurandir Fernando Comar, Caroline Tessaro Moreira, Andréia Assunção Soares, Andrea Luiza de Oliveira, Adelar Bracht*  and Rosane Marina Peralta

Department of Biochemistry, University of Maringá, Avenida Colombo 5790, 87020900 Maringá, Brazil

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 21 March 2012; in revised form: 7 May 2012 / Accepted: 12 May 2012 / Published: 16 May 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioactive Compounds)

Download PDF Full-Text [363 KB, uploaded 16 May 2012 09:25 CEST]

Abstract: The fruit extracts of Citrus aurantium (bitter orange) are traditionally used as weight-loss products and as appetite supressants. An important fruit component is p-synephrine, which is structurally similar to the adrenergic agents. Weight-loss and adrenergic actions are always related to metabolic changes and this work was designed to investigate a possible action of the C. aurantium extract on liver metabolism. The isolated perfused rat liver was used to measure catabolic and anabolic pathways, including oxygen uptake and perfusion pressure. The C. aurantium extract and p-synephrine increased glycogenolysis, glycolysis, oxygen uptake and perfusion pressure. These changes were partly sensitive to a- and b-adrenergic antagonists. p-Synephrine (200 mM) produced an increase in glucose output that was only 15% smaller than the increment caused by the extract containing 196 mM p-synephrine. At low concentrations the C. aurantium extract tended to increase gluconeogenesis, but at high concentrations it was inhibitory, opposite to what happened with p-synephrine. The action of the C. aurantium extract on liver metabolism is similar to the well known actions of adrenergic agents and can be partly attributed to its content in p-synephrine. Many of these actions are catabolic and compatible with the weight-loss effects usually attributed to C. aurantium.

Keywords: adrenergic signaling; respiration; glycogenolysis; glycolysis; weight loss

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