Indian Gooseberry and Barley Sprout Mixture Inhibits Adipogenesis and Lipogenesis Activity in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The communication has been explored the synergistic effect of an Indian gooseberry and barley sprout mixture in differentiated adipocytes. The scientific quality, relevance and presentation of this manuscript is acceptable and can be improved further. Some specific comments for improvement are as follow:

 

Major：

1. The WB in figure 1 is illegible.
2. Need to cite the references for each sections in materials and method.

 

Minor：

1. The material used in the research study need to be identified.
2. The preparation of plant materials need to be addressed.
3. IGBP 2:1 mixture showed the anti-obesity activity. What might be the bioactive compounds in the mixture? Need to discus in the discussion section.
4. English should be improved, especially in the results section.
5. There are other typographical and grammatical errors not specified here.
6. Authors should correct the formal error in reference section. (e.g. line429, line 365-383…)

Author Response

Thanks for your suggestions. We agreed to your comments and changed the manuscript as the followings.

 

Major

1. As you suggested , we changed the western blot band in Figure 1 with new ones (Fig. 1B CREB; Fig. 1E C/EBPα; Fig. 1F PPARγ).
2. As you suggested, we added the additional references for each sections in materials and method (line 77-78; line 100; line 121; line 123; line 131-132).

Minor

1. As you suggested, we identified the materials used in the research study and added their information in the manuscripts (line 68-72). In addition, we have corrected the redundant content of information related to materials (line 76, 81, 85, and 96).
2. As you suggested, we added extraction information of plant materials in the materials section (line 65-67).
3. As you suggested, we discussed in the discussion section which active substances may have been involved in anti-obesity effects (line 333-336). We detected ellagic acid and saponarin in the IGBP mixture by HPLC. However, additional verification procedures are required and plans to be added to the next animal study.
4. As you mentioned, we have corrected the sentences that are linguistically unnatural in the result section.
5. As you mentioned, we solved the typographical error problem. However, when the finished file is saved and opened again, the picture is broken. So I will ask the editor for help on this matter.
6. As you suggested, we have corrected the formal error part in the reference section.

 

Thank you.

 

Sincerely yours,

Da-Eun Nam, Ph.D.

Beirne B. Cater Center for Immunology Research, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Tel: +1-434-242-7144; E-mail: [email protected]

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Authors,

 

It is a very well written and executed experiment for studying the lipogenesis and its mechanisms using natural product extracts. I have a concern regarding the concentration of Indian goose berry and barley sprout mainly in the perspective of the purity, characterization before using for invivo or invitro studies. I would appreciate if this is addressed.

What is the availability of these two natural product extracts? is there any limitation? and what will be purity of each batch extraction.. if there are no limitations of the availability. It is great.

Author Response

Thank you for reviewing the manuscript and for your questions. We answer your questions as follows.

 

1. As you mentioned, we added the concentration of each extracts in the materials section (line 65-67).
2. Regarding the availability of these two extracts, each extract is more toxic at higher concentrations. However, there are no limitations within the concentration range used in the experiment.

Thank you.

 

Sincerely yours,

Da-Eun Nam, Ph.D.

Beirne B. Cater Center for Immunology Research, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

Tel: +1-434-242-7144; E-mail: [email protected]

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The discussed in the discussion section significantly increased the article´s quality. I suggest its acceptance.

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.