Abstract
Metabolic syndrome, a cluster of different disorders which include diabetes, obesity and
cardiovascular diseases, is a global epidemic that is growing at an alarming rate. The origins of disease
can be traced back to early developmental stages of life. This has increased mortalities and continues
to reduce life expectancies of individuals across the globe. The aim of this study was to investigate
the sub-acute and long term effects of neonatal oral administration of oleanolic acid and metformin
on lipids (free fatty acids, FFAs) and genes associated with lipid metabolism and glucose transport
using a neonatal rat experimental model. In the first study, seven days old pups were randomly
grouped into control—distilled water (DW); oleanolic acid (60 mg/kg), metformin (500 mg/kg),
high fructose diet (20% w/v, HF), oleanolic acid (OA) + high fructose diet (OA + HF), and Metformin
+ high fructose diet (MET + HF) groups. The pups were treated for 7 days, and then terminated on
postnatal day (PD) 14. In the second study, rat pups were initially treated similarly to study 1 and
weaned onto normal rat chow and plain drinking water on PD 21 till they reached adulthood (PD112).
Tissue and blood samples were collected for further analyses...