Anti‐Atherogenic Activity of Ethanolic Fraction of Terminalia arjuna Bark on Hypercholesterolemic Rabbits

Abstract

Atherosclerosis which results from gradual deposition of lipids in medium and large arteries is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Terminalia arjuna is a herb of Combretaceae family which contains hypolipidemic compounds and flavonoids with high antioxidative properties. This study was conducted to determine the effect of ethanolic fraction of T. arjuna on blood lipids and atherosclerosis in rabbits fed with high fat diet (HFD). Twenty New Zealand rabbits of either sex were randomly divided into five groups: the first two were normal diet group and HFD (21% fat) group and the remaining three groups received high cholesterol diet supplemented with standard drug (Atorvastatin 10 mg kg−1 body weight), T. arjuna ethanolic fraction (100 and 200 mg kg−1 body weight), respectively. The concentration of total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides (TGs), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol and high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol was determined in rabbits at the start of the experiment, at the 14th, 30th days and at the end of the study. Anti-atherogenic index was calculated from the lipid profile of the rabbits before sacrifice. At the end of the experimental period, the aorta was removed for assessment of atherosclerotic plaques. Results show that T. arjuna significantly decreases TC, LDL and TG levels and increases HDL and lessens atherosclerotic lesion in aorta (P < .05). Hence T. arjuna extract can effectively prevent the progress of atherosclerosis. This is likely due to the effect of T. arjuna on serum lipoproteins and its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Anti-obesity and cardioprotective effects of cinnamic acid in high fat diet- induced obese rats

“…This effect leads to a decrease in TCh, LDL-c and TG levels in serum of CA-treated group of rats. Consequently, it showed a reduction of body weight as antiobesity action (Subramaniam et al 2011). In previous studies, the chronic increases in circulating leptin caused sustained increases in arterial pressure and heart rate and was consistent with a possible role for leptin in obesity hypertension (Shek et al 1998;Kohlstedt et al 2009 ) demonstrated that; it also could increase heart rate by increasing cardiac The sonography also revealed that HFD might contribute to hepatic steatosis, compared to Fluv and CA groups, and clearly appeared in Fig.…”

Potential role of medicinal plants for anti-atherosclerosis activity

“…These were divided into different groups on the base of different treatments. Ultimately, the rabbits that were given an ethanolic extract of this plant shown more valuable results like reduction of atherosclerosis and some other cardiac problems (Subramaniam et al, 2011).…”

Effect of ayurvedic preparation Mrityunjay in digoxin-induced arrhythmic rats

“…The bark of the plant is used as anti-ischemic and cardioprotective (Bone and Morgan, 1996). T. arjuna bark extract has been found to be beneficial for heart failure, coronary artery disease, and high cholesterol levels coronary arterial disease (Subramaniam et al, 2011;Kapoor, 2001). It has been found to significantly increase the activity of lipoprotein lipase as well as plasma lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase mediated hepatic bile acid synthesis and reduces the activity of lipogenic enzymes including 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCoA) reductase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and malate dehydrogenase (Patil et al, 2011).…”