Metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) is an excessive buildup of liver lipids closely associated with various kinds of undesirable metabolic effects and oxidative stress. We aimed to investigate the protective and therapeutic effects of orlistat on metabolic syndrome and oxidative stress parameters in high-fat diet (HFD) induced-MAFLD rats. Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 6/group), i.e., Normal control (N), HFD, HFD + orlistat (HFD + O) (10 mg/kg/day administered concomitantly for 12 weeks as a protective model), and obese+orlistat (OB + O) (10 mg/kg/day administered 6 weeks after induction of obesity as a therapeutic model) groups. After 12 weeks, the HFD group had significantly increased Lee obesity index, serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein levels, liver total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, insulin resistance and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) together with decreased serum high-density lipoprotein level. Additionally, the HFD group also showed increased Nrf2 translocation to the nucleus with high Keap1 expression and increased liver oxidative stress parameters. Orlistat significantly improved all these alterations in HFD rats. We demonstrated that orlistat might have protective and therapeutic effects against HFD-induced MAFLD rats by its activation on Nrf2 signaling pathway, which subsequently improved metabolic syndrome and oxidative stress parameters.
The subcritical water extraction (SWE) of pectin from durian rind was optimized using response surface methodology with Box-Behnken experimental design. The FTIR, SEM, and DSC analysis were used to examine the physicochemical, structural, thermal, and functional characteristics of the subcritical water-extracted pectin (SWEP) under optimum conditions and contrasted with the conventional acid-extracted pectin (CAEP). The optimum yield of pectin (5.43 %) was achieved under the temperature of 120 °C, time of 18.5 min, and sieve size of 100 μm. The comparative analysis reveals that the yield of SWEP was ∼2.07 % higher than the CAEP yield (3.36 %). Similarly, the equivalent weight, esterification degree, methoxy concentration, anhydrouronic acid content, water holding capacity, and oil holding capacity of SWEP were consistently higher than the CAEP. Therefore, SWE proved effective for obtaining high-quality pectin from durian rind and offers a simplified, cost-effective, and eco-friendly approach, which makes it a viable method for industrial application.