Study on the effect of 4-weeks treatment of the aqueous extract of the roots of Salep plants on the serum concentration of leptin hormone and body weight in male rats

Obesity is a chronic disease whose incidence is increasing worldwide and has resulted in the development of many diseases including diabetes, heart – cardiovascular disease, hypertension and some cancers. A wide variety of methods have been offered to treat obesity; the herbal therapy is considered as one of these methods. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aqueous extract of Salep plant roots on leptin serum level and body weight in male rats. In this experimental study, 50 adult male Wistar rats were selected and randomly divided into 5 groups equally: control (no drug), sham(which received 1 ml of distilled water), the experimental group 1 (receiver 20 mg / kg aqueous extract of Salep plant roots), experimental group 2 (receiving 40 mg / kg aqueous extract of Salep) and experimental group 3 (receiver 80 mg / kg aqueous extract of Salep plant). In the experimental groups, the extract was injected intraperitoneally for 28 days. In the twenty-ninth day, the mice were bled for the assessment of leptin hormone serum level. Body weight was measured daily throughout the experiment. the dose-dependently injection of the aqueous extract of the Salep plant roots led to a significant increase in leptin hormone serum level and significant decrease in food intake and body weight in comparison to control(p<0.05). The aqueous extract of the Salep plants roots reduces the body weight by increasing leptin hormone serum level.