Manjula S N et al., Int. J. Res. Pharm. Sci., 2020, 11(2), 2083-2089 ORIGINAL ARTICLE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES Published by JK Welfare & Pharmascope Foundation Journal Home Page: www.pharmascope.org/ijrps Anti-obesity effect of Tamarindus indicus seed extract against a high-fat diet-induced obese model in rats Nabeel K 1 , Asra Fathima 2 , Farhath Khanum 2 , Manjula S N *1 , Mruthunjaya K 3 , Vengal Rao P 1 , Seema Mehdi 1 1 Department of Pharmacology, JSS College of Pharmacy, JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysuru- 570015, Karnataka, India 2 Nutrition, Biochemistry and Toxicology Division, Defense Food and Research Laboratory, Mysuru- 570011, Karnataka, India 3 Department of Pharmacognosy, JSS College of Pharmacy, JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research, Mysuru- 570015, Karnataka, India Article History: Received on: 03 Aug 2019 Revised on: 12 Nov 2019 Accepted on: 29 Nov 2019 Keywords: Tamarindus indica, cell viability, High fat diet, leptin, oil red staining ABSTRACT The present study was aimed to evaluate the anti-obesity property of Tamarindus indica seed extract (TSE) on high fat-fed obese rats. TSE was pre- pared by cold maceration method and qualitative phytochemical studies had been carried out. In vitro cell viability assay (MTT assay) was and oil red stain- ing for evaluating the lipid accumulation in cells was carried out using 3T3-L1 cells, and leptin levels was evaluated by ELISA. In-vivo Obesity was induced in experimental rats by administration of a high-fat diet for 04 weeks. The anti-obesity effect was screened by oral administration of TSE at two differ- ent dose levels i.e., 250 and 500mg/kg b. Wt. Along with a high-fat diet for a period of 04 weeks. The anti-obesity activity is estimated in terms of body weight gain, serum triglycerides (TG), Total cholesterol (TC). In -vitro stud- ies revealed that the TSE has no cytotoxic effect, Administration of a high-fat diet for 04 weeks signiϑicantly increased the body weight, serum triglycerides, cholesterol. Upon treatment with TSE, a signiϑicant dose-dependent alteration in body weight, triglycerides, cholesterol levels were observed, inferring the anti-obesity property of Tamarindus seed extract. * Corresponding Author Name: Manjula S N Phone: +919738412310 Email: nabeelk@jssuni.edu.in ISSN: 0975-7538 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26452/ijrps.v11i2.2149 Production and Hosted by Pharmascope.org © 2020 | All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Obesity is characterized by excessive fat deposition in adipose tissue (Zimmet et al., 2005), which is due to the disorder of lipid metabolism leading to the disarray of energy balance (Wang and Lim, 2012). It is a major global public health problem as it’s prevalence, cutting across all age groups, sex, and race (Kreidieh et al., 2018). The rates of obesity are increasing exponentially over time and leading to other complications like diabetes, cardiovascu- lar problems, and sleeping disorders, etc. (West- phal, 2008). At present obesity is being treated by behaviour therapy, modifying food habits, calorie- based diet restriction (Harris et al., 2009; Luttikhuis et al., 2009) and so on, but a herbal treatment to reduce the fat deposits are also warranted as it is a safe alternative to other drug moieties (Hasani- Ranjbar et al., 2013). A large number of Indigenous drugs have been claimed to possess an anti-obesity effect (Hasani- Ranjbar et al., 2013; Roh and Jung, 2012; Kim et al., © International Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2083