Life sciences
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Methyl palmitate is thought to cause relaxation in vascular smooth muscle by opening voltage-activated potassium channels. We have tested the hypothesis that methyl palmitate, a putative regulator from perivascular fat, is an inhibitor of the contractility of human pregnant myometrium and that its effects might partially explain the higher incidence of dysfunctional labor in obese women compared to those with normal body mass indices. ⋯ Our findings do not support the hypothesis that methyl palmitate is an inhibitor of human pregnant myometrial contractility. Alternate hypotheses must be pursued to explain the higher incidence of dysfunctional labor in obese women.
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We evaluated the effects of yerba mate treatment over 30 days on body weight, food intake, hypothalamic leptin action and inflammatory profile in adult rats that were weaned early. ⋯ Thirty days of mate treatment prevented the development of hyperphagia, overweight, visceral obesity and central leptin resistance. This beneficial effect on the satiety of M offspring most likely occurred after the improvement of inflammatory markers in the hypothalamus and adipocytes, which suggests that Ilex paraguariensis plays an important role in the management of obesity by acting on the inflammatory profile.