BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF NATURAL PRODUCTS ON IN-VITRO AND IN-VIVO MODELS

Numerous plants, plant extracts, and plant-derived compounds are being explored for their beneficial effects on a broad spectrum of metabolic dysfunctions such as obesity, fatty liver and endothelium dysfunction, as well as for their potential against aging. Obesity is associated with the increased prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), becoming the most common liver disease in Western countries. Obesity and NAFLD are closely associated with many other metabolic alternations such as cardiovascular diseases and endothelial dysfunction. Aging is a multifactorial phenomenon characterized by degenerative processes closely connected to oxidative damage and chronic inflammation. Many herbs are widely employed as food and spices in the Mediterranean area, but also in folk medicine, and their use for the management of metabolic disorders is well documented. Thymbra spicata L., a member of the Lamiaceae family, is rich in phenolic compounds, and is a popular remedy to prevent and/or counteract many disorders. Hereby, the present PhD thesis started by studying the protective effects of carvacrol, being one of the main phenolic compound contained in the T. spicata leaves and extracts, using two in vitro cellular models of hepatic steatosis and endothelial dysfunction. Then, we prosecuted by investigating how an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion impacts on the phenolic profile and biological activities of T. spicata extracts. Finally, we tested the beneficial effects of T. spicata extracts in vivo in Drosophila melanogaster fed a supplemented diet. The outcome of this PhD shows that T. spicata could be a sources of many bioactive compounds and represents a promising candidate to develop natural therapeutic agents or dietary supplements to treat obesity-related metabolic diseases and aging.