الفهرس 
Aim of Study.Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Algae are a group of living organisms that are able to capture the energy of light through the process of photosynthesis, converting inorganic substances (mostly water + carbon dioxide) into organic substances (sugars) in which they store energy. They are also a name that denotes a group of diverse plants belonging to more than 20,000 thousand species, and these algae are found in different forms in terms of shape, size, and way of living. The scholars are unanimously agreed that the word algae may denote plant groups that share a number of characteristics, the most important of which is that they do not have roots, stems, flowers, or real leaves, but rather they are a group of cells standing next to the other, living mostly in salt water (seas and oceans) and fresh (rivers), and also contain chlorophyll, and thus the ability to carry out the process of photosynthesis. Some types of algae are also familiar to most people, for example seaweed, pond scum, or algae blooms in lakes. Despite this, there is a vast and diverse world of algae that not only help us with life, but are essential to our existence in it. In general, Marine algae are classified as brown, red, or green algae. Brown algae belong to Family, Phaeophyceae are a large group of mostly marine multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in different countries around the world including Egypt. Most BA contain the pigment fucoxanthin, which gives them their name and gives them their unique greenish-brown hue (Mann and Martin, 2002).
In the littoral zone of the Egyptian coast, BA is currently the most dominant group. Members of Sargassum genus represent valuable sources of a several compounds including proteins, lipids, minerals, essential fatty and amino acids, and bioactive compounds. Also, BA consists mainly of water (90 %) in the native state. Polysaccharides are major components and comprise alginates, cellulose, and sulfated polysaccharides such as fucoidans and laminarins. Other components include proteins, free mannitol, minerals such as iodine and arsenic (inorganic and organic), polyphenols, peptides, fatty compounds, and various pigments. Alginates, probably the most widely used of the algal extracts, are composed of block copolymers of mannuronic and guluronic acid sugars and have been adopted by the food industry as thickening agents and by the pharmaceutical industry as binders, gelling agents, and wound absorbents.
from a nutritional and therapeutic point of view, brown algae such as Sargassum genus is used dried in condiment and soup bases or eaten fresh in salads, rolls, or stews, or with rice. It is thought that the overall content of certain traditional Asian diets contributes to the low incidence of cancer, particularly breast cancer. Also, it is apparent that the unique levels of seaweed intake contribute to the variance in the levels of breast cancer. There is a nine fold lower incidence of breast cancer in the Japanese population and an even lower incidence in the Korean population compared to the incidence in the West. The relative longevity and health of Okinawan Japanese populations has been attributed in part to dietary algae in studies. In Brazil, a dietary intervention for 10 weeks study, 3g of decosahexaenoic acid, 5g of seaweed (wakame) powder, and 50 mg of isoflavonoids from soybean (Glycine soja) were given daily to immigrants, at high risk for developing diseases,. This combination reduced blood pressure and cholesterol levels, suppressed the urinary markers of bone resorption, and attenuated a tendency toward diabetes. Recently, our studies indicated that consuming of BA (L.Sargassum subrepandum ) powder up to 4% of the diet was effective in protecting of some obese complications including oxidative stress, immunodeficiency and bone disorders, and liver dysfunctions.
Obesity defines as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 is generally considered obesity. It is well known that obesity is a growing problem globally with high rates in both developed and developing countries. Obesity is an increasing, global public health issue. It is associated with a significant increase in mortality, with a life expectancy decrease of 5–10 years. Patients with obesity are at major risk for developing a range of comorbid conditions. The health risks associated with being overweight and obese include a range of conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), hypertension, dyslipidemia, sleep apnea, some cancers, musculoskeletal disease, infertility, disability, dementia, and mortality.
In Egypt, the study which was conducted through the “100 Million Health” campaign, confirmed that 39.8% of adult Egyptians suffer from obesity, according to a survey study in 2019, which included 49.7 million people. The study also indicated that the results of the survey indicated that obesity is more prevalent among women, at a rate of 49.5%, compared to 29.5% among men. The same study also explained that the 13 diseases resulting from obesity constitute a huge burden on the health and economic systems in Egypt, including high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea, fatty liver, hyperlipidemia, heart disease and depression. Additionally, for the economic burden, the study indicated that obesity costs Egyptians about 50 billion pounds annually to treat associated diseases attributed to it, and this figure includes direct medical costs for treating patients who suffer from these diseases due to obesity. And with the escalation of the numbers of obese patients in Egypt, the methods of confronting them also increased, the most prominent of which was slimming surgeries of all kinds. The Egyptian Society for Obesity Surgery (ESOS), also indicated nearly 30,000 obesity surgeries are performed annually. However, there are many cases in which these surgeries fail, in addition to the serious medical complications that may result from these surgeries. In another obesity treatment/prevent strategy, a number of pharmacological approaches have been investigated in recent years, but few therapeutically effective and safe products have been developed. In another meaning, the modern pharmacological therapy is costly and associated with multiple side effects resulting in patient non-compliance. Thus, there is a need to explore alternative therapies particularly from natural sources as these are cost effective and possess minimal side effects. In this attention, some plant parts have been utilized as anti-obesity agents in our previous study. These plant parts initially took the form of crude drugs such as powders, extracts and other formulae which exhibited effective roles in preventing and/or curative obesity and its complications in experimental animals. Therefore, the results of previous studies were very encouraging, and even a strong motivation to expand in this field, by searching for different plant parts that are widespread in the global and local environment, and are suitable for treating obesity and its complications.
Aim of study
The present study aims to determine the chemical composition, bioactive compounds and biological activities of brown alga species (L.Sargassum subrepandum) collected from Mediterranean Sea coasts in Egypt. Also, the possibility of using such algae in the strategy of obesity disease treatment and its complications in experimental rats will be in the scope of this investigation.
Experimental design
All the experiments were a complied with the rulings of the Institute of Laboratory Animal Resources, Commission on life Sciences, National Research Council. Rats (n=36 rats), were housed individually in wire cages in a room maintained at 25 ± 4 0C, relative humidity (53±4%), a 12-hr lighting cycle and kept under normal healthy conditions. All rats were fed on BD for two weeks before starting the experiment for acclimatization. After that, the rats were randomly divided into two main groups, the first group (group 1, 6 rats) still fed on BD as negative control/normal group and the second main group (30 rats) was classified into five sub groups as follow: group (2), fed on HFD as a positive control/model ; group (3), fed on HFD containing 1.5 % SSP; group (4), fed on HFD containing 3 % SSP; group (5), fed on HFD containing 4.5 % SSP and group (6), fed on HFD containing 6 % SSP. Each of the above group was kept in a single cage for eight weeks. During the experimental period (eight weeks), body weight gain (BWG, as a percent of initial weight) was recorded every week in rats. At the end of experiment period (eight weeks) blood samples were collected after 12 hours fasting using the abdominal aorta and rats were scarified under ether anesthetized. Blood samples were collected part in clean dry centrifuge tubes and left to clot at room temperature, then centrifuged for 10 minutes at 3000 rpm to separate the serum. The clear, not hemolyzed serum was carefully aspirate, transferred into labeled Eppendorf tubes and stored frozen at -20oC for further biochemical analysis. The different samples of the heart and fatty tissues were separated and stored in neutral formalin (10%) for histopathological studies.
Results
Part 1. Nutritional composition, minerals, vitamins, bioactive constituent’s content and antioxidant activity of Sargassum subrepandum powder (SSP):
• Fibers was the largest compound (46.34 ± 3.27 g.100g-1) followed by ash (24.51 ± 2.01 g.100g-1), carbohydrate (21.26 ± 1.92 g.100g-1), total protein (5.03 ± 0.83 g.100g-1) and crude fat (2.86 ± 0.17 g.100g-1).
• SSP is rich in different estimated elements. K recorded higher contents followed by Ca, Na, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mg.
• Vitamin B2 was the most abundant vitamins, followed by vitamins B3, C, E, A and B9.
• Polysaccharides were the largest compound followed by polyphenols, tannins, carotenoids, flavonoids, terpenoids, triterpenoids, anthocyanin’s and kaempherol.
• SSP recorded antioxidant activity equal 67.15 ± 2.21% which compares well with the references/standards antioxidants used i.e. BHT (50 mg/ml), BHT (50 mg/ml) and α-tocopherol (50 mg/ml) by71.97 ± 1.39, 75.09 ± 1.97 and 69.96 ± 0.93%, respectively.
Part 2. Biological application:
- The effect of Sargassum subrepandum powder (SSP) on body weight of obese rats:
Feeding of rats on high fat diet (HFD) leads to increase the body weight than the control group. At the end of the experiment (8 weeks), rats of the normal group recorded 255.39 g i.e. an increase in its amount by 64.36% when compared to the base line. Rats of the model obese group recorded 335.01 g i.e. increased by the rate of 115.60% when compared to the base line. The intervention with SSP by 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0 of SSP lead to significant (p≤0.05) decreasing on body weight of the model obese rats which recorded 108.06, 94.46, 77.28 and 73.18 %, respectively when compared to the base line. Also, a positive relationship was noticed between the rate of weight loss and the increase in the concentration of SSP intervention.
- Effects of Sargassum subrepandum powder (SSP) on liver functions of obese rats:
Obesity induced significant (p≤0.05) increased in AST, ALT and ALP by the rate of 41.34, 39.66 and 35.67, respectively compared to the normal control rats. The intervention of the rat’s diet with SPP by 1.5 to 6.0% induced significant (p≤0.05) improvements on liver functions through decreasing the AST, ALT and ALP activates by different rates. Also, a positive relationship was noticed between the liver function improvement and the increase in the concentration of SSP intervention.
- Effect of selected plant parts (food processing by-products) powder on serum lipids profile concentration of obese rats :
Obesity induced a significant (p≤0.05) increased in TG, TC, LDL-c and VLDL-c by 61.38, 41.43, 101.85 and 61.38%, respectively compared to normal control group. The opposite direction was recorded for HDL which decreased by -25.25%. The intervention of the rat’s with SPP by 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0% induced significant (p≤0.05) improvements on serum lipid profile through decreasing the TG, TC, LDL-c, VLDL-c and HDL-c levels by different rates. The present data with the others proved that positive roles of SSP in improving of the serum lipid profile which resulted from obesity complications.
- Effects Sargassum subrepandum powder (SSP) intervention on serum glutathione fractions of obese rats:
Obesity caused a significant (p≤0.05) decreased in GSH and GSSG by the rat of -27.74 and -11.73%, respectively compared to normal controls. The intervention with SSP by the ratio of 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0 % of SSP lead to significant (p≤0.05) increasing of the serum glutathione fractions concentrations induced by obesity. Also, a positive relationship was noticed between the glutathione fractions concentrations and the increase in the concentration of SSP intervention.
- Effects of Sargassum subrependum powder (SSP) on biological oxidants levels of obese rats:
Obesity as the result of HFD feeding caused a significant (p≤0.05) increasing in both serum MDA and ROS concentration by the ratio 68.62 and 53.96%, respectively compared to normal controls. The intervention with SSP by the ratio of 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0% lead to significant (p≤0.05) decreasing of the serum MDA and ROS concentrations induced by obesity. Also, a positive relationship was noticed between the serum MDA and ROS concentrations and the increase in the concentration of SSP intervention. The same behavior for MDA was reported by Elhassaneen et al., (2022) who have used Sargassum subrepandum extract by 0.25 to 1.0% w/w in the intervention process.
- Effect of Sargassum subrependum powder intervention on the histopathological alterations of obese rats:
Heart of rat from group 1 revealed the normal histological structure of cardiac myocytes. In contrast, heart of rats from group 2 showed vacuolation of the sarcoplasm of cardiac myocytes, inflammatory cells infiltration between the cardiac myocytes, intermuscular hemorrhage and intermuscular edema. Meanwhile, heart of rats from group 3 exhibited only slight intermuscular edema. Furthermore, heart of rats from group 4 described slight intermuscular edema, slight congestion of myocardial blood vessel and capillaries. Moreover, heart of rats from group 5 revealed slight congestion of myocardial blood vessels in some sections, whereas, other sections showed no histopathological lesions. Likewise, some examined sections from group 6 showed slight intermuscular edema, whereas, other sections exhibited no histopathological lesions.
Adipose of rat from group 1 revealed normal unilocular adipocytes, polygonal in shape and having signet ring appearance. In contrast, adipose tissue of rats from group 2 showed notable histological changes characterized large size unilocular adipocyte, inflammatory cells infiltration and congestion of blood vessel. Meanwhile, adipose tissue of rats from group 3 described some large size unilocular adipocytes and some small size adipocytes. Otherwise, some examined sections from group 4 exhibited apparent histologically normal adipocytes, whereas, other sections revealed congestion of blood vessels. Furthermore, some sections from group 5 exhibited apparent histologically normal adipocytes, whereas, other sections revealed showing some large size unilocular adipocytes and some small size adipocytes (Photo26) as well as congestion of blood vessels. Otherwise, sections from group 6 revealed apparent histologically normal adipocytes.