Lipid lowering effect of eurycoma longifolia jack aqueous root extract in hepatocytes

الملخص EN

An aqueous root extract of Eurycoma longifolia Jack, or natively known in Malay as Tongkat Ali, is traditionally used to overcome a plethora of health conditions, especially in andrological related maladies.

There is compiling evidence that corroborates the therapeutic effects of this plant extract as an efficacious concoction.

Recently, the potential for the plant extract to be used for the regulation of fat metabolism has also been proposed.

Results from in vivo and human trials were unable to determine if a decrease in lipid deposits was caused by E.

longifolia root extract or that it was merely a side effect of the reported physiological changes.

Therefore, this study adopted an in vitro model to investigate whether E.

longifolia root extract possesses lipid lowering and/or absorption inhibitory potentials.

The human hepatic cell line WRL-68 (normal and fat fed) was treated with various concentrations (1, 2, 4 and 8 µg/ml) of E.

longifolia root extract.

The results showed reductions in intracellular fatty acids build-up of up to -72%, in treated cells when compared to untreated control cells.

However, treatments with E.

longifolia did not show any significant inhibition of fatty acids absorption when compared to the respective control cells.

This study, therefore, unraveled a novel potential of intracellular lipid lowering effect of E.

longifolia.

The findings warrant further studies to elucidate the intracellular signaling mechanisms that may explain the phenomenon.