OBESITY RELATED END-ORGAN DAMAGE: PROTECTIVE EFFECTS OF TART CHERRIES SUPPLEMENTATION.

Tart cherries (Prunus cerasus L.) are a rich source of anthocyanins, that may contribute to their health-promoting effects [1]. Infact tart cherries showed different beneficial health effects: 1) have high antioxidant potential and contain a number of compounds that fight free radicals; 2) have been shown to reduce inflammation of different sorts including decreased muscle soreness, greater strength following exercise, decreased inflammatory markers; 3) have important beneficial metabolic effects such as decreasing fat, sugar, and insulin levels in the blood; 4) show positive effects against cancer [2-4]. The excess of fat storage in the abdomen, is the prime cause of the metabolic abnormalities and therefore it represents an important target in the treatment of obesity. Excessive accumulation of adipose tissue, correlates with metabolic changes, increases the risk of end-organ damage. On the other hand, abnormalities, that often accompany obesity, include hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia [5] . The aims of this study were evaluate the effects of tart cherries juice and seeds powder on rodent models of diet-induced obesity (DIO). DIO rats of 7 weeks of age, exposed to high-fat diet ad-libitum, provide a useful animal model sharing several common features with human obesity [6]. DIO rats were studied after 17 weeks under hypercaloric diet with the supplementation of tart cher-ries seeds powder (DS) or seeds powder plus tart cherries juice, containing 1mg of anthocyanins (DJS). DIO rats were compared to the control rats with not fat diet (CHOW). To determine the systemic effects of high-caloric diet exposure, we examined food consumption, fat mass content and fasting glycemia, insulin levels, cholesterol and triglycerides. Ultrasonographic (US) and computed tomography (CT) evaluations were performed to detect adipose tissue deposi-tion. qRT-PCR, western blot and morphological analysis were performed in brain, adipose tissue, gut and liver. After 17 weeks of fat diet, rats increased significantly their body weight in comparison to the CHOW rats. No differences in body weight were observed in DS and DJS rats compared to age-matched DIO rats. Supplementation of tart cherries in DS and DJS decreased the blood pressure and the glycaemia. Furthermore, the serum levels of thiobarbituric reactive substances decreased. The US and CT analysis indicated an increase of deposition of visceral adipose tissue a moderate hepatic steatosis. CT analysis revealed a decrease of spleen-to-liver attenuation ratio, in DJS rats. In liver sections of DS and DJS rats a decrease of hepatic injury characterized by hepatocytic ballooning degeneration at the perivenular areas was found. In the visceral adipose tissue, tart cherries were able to reduce inflammatory status. The association of obesity to intestinal barrier permeability modifications is known to be associated with the obesity state. At colon level, intestinal mucins, identified on the basis of both sialoglyco-conjugate distribution and mucin 2 expression showed a modulation in DIO rats supplemented with tart cherries. In the hippocampus and in frontal cortex of treated rats, a reduction of both glial-fibrillary acid pro-tein immunoreaction and a microglial activation decreasing was found. Moreover, there is an in-crease of neurofilament expression in treated rats compared to DIO. Nevertheless, tart cherries is not able to modify the modulation of synaptophysin and ions channels expression in DIO rats. These findings suggest that supplementation with tart cherries, although it did not affect the body weight in DIO rats, is able to prevent the obesity induced end-organ damage. Further studies are needed to better clarify the benefits of tart cherry supplementation on disease prevention and health status maintenance. [1] Kelley DS, Adkins Y, Laugero KD. A Review of the Health Benefits of Cherries. Nutrients. 2018; 10: pii: E368. [2] Ou B, Bosak KN, Brickner PR, Iezzoni DG, Seymour EM. Processed tart cherry products--comparative phytochemical content, in vitro antioxidant capacity and in vitro anti-inflammatory ac-tivity. J Food Sci. 2012;77:H105-H112. [3] Lynn A1, Mathew S, Moore CT, Russell J, Robinson E, Soumpasi V, Barker ME. Effect of a tart cherry juice supplement on arterial stiffness and inflammation in healthy adults: a randomised controlled trial. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2014;69:122-127. [4] Martin KR, Wooden A. Tart cherry juice induces differential dose-dependent effects on apopto-sis, but not cellular proliferation, in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. J Med Food 2012;15:945-54. [5] Ricci G, Pirillo I, Tomassoni D, Sirignano A, Grappasonni I. Metabolic syndrome, hypertension, and nervous system injury: Epidemiological correlates. Clin Exp Hypertens. 2017;39:8-16. [6] Kimura Y, Yamada A, Takabayashi Y, Tsubota T, Kasuga H. Development of a new diet-induced obesity (DIO) model using Wistar lean rats. Exp Anim. 2018;67:155-161.