Hypocholesterolemic Effects of Purslane Extract on Serum Lipids in Rabbits Fed With High Cholesterol Levels Publisher



Movahedian A¹ ; Ghannadi A² ; Vashirnia M³ Show Affiliations
Source: International Journal of Pharmacology Published:2007

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Purslane leaves on serum lipids of rabbits fed with a hypercholesterolemic diet. Therefore different groups of animals were fed either the normal chow diet or a diet enriched in cholesterol (0.5%). Moreover, hypercholesterolemic animals were treated with or without different doses of Purslane extract (200, 400, 800 mg kg-1 body weight) orally for 12 weeks. Blood samples were obtained at 0, 6 and 12 weeks after treatment to analyze serum lipids and Atherogenic Index (AI) which is equal to total cholesterol- HDL cholesterol/HDL cholesterol. We show that the serum total cholesterol decreased in all groups treated with purslane extract. Its also found that the distribution of cholesterol between lipoproteins were Changed so, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) decreased significantly in all of the groups treated with purslane extract with respect to positive control group. All treated animals also showed a decrease in AI These findings indicate that this plant may be useful for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.