Hypolipidemic, antioxidant and anti-atherosclerogenic effect of aqueous extract leaves of Cassia. occidentalis Linn (Caesalpiniaceae) in diet-induced hypercholesterolemic rats

Abstract

BackgroundHyperlipidemia and oxidative stress are major risk factors for atherosclerosis, and all three are among the most important risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Cassia occidentalis aqueous extract has been used in African traditional medicine for the treatment of hypertension and associated cardiovascular diseases. This study was undertaken to evaluate the hypolipidemic and anti-atherosclerotic properties of the aqueous extract of the leaves of C. occidentalis in rats with hypercholesterolemia (HC).Sixty Normocholesterolemic (NC) male rats were divided into six groups (n = 10) and fed a high-cholesterol (HC) diet for 30 days (5 groups), or normal rat chow (normal control group). The plant extract was administered to animals at the increasing dose of 240, 320 and 400 mg/kg. After 4 weeks of treatment 5 rats out of 10 were sacrificed, blood samples, aorta, liver, and fresh faecal were collected and processed for biochemical tests. The experiments were conducted under the same conditions with a group of rat treated with Atorvastatin (1 mg/kg), used positive control. The effects of C. occidentalis on weight gain, water and food consumptions, levels of serum lipids and lipoprotein lipid oxidation and stress markers in blood and liver were also examined.ResultsA significant body weight gain was observed in general in all the group of animals without any treatment after 4 weeks. During the treatment period, the C. occidentalis extract induced a significant increase (P < 0.01) in water consumption and food intakes. After 4 weeks of treatment with hypercholesterolemia, the body temperature and organ weights including the liver, kidney, heart and the testis did not present any significant change. The administration of C. occidentalis extract significantly (p < 0.05) prevented the elevation in TC, LDL-C, VLDL-C, hepatic and aortic TG and TC. The atherogenic, triglycerides, and lipid peroxidation (TBARS) index were also decreased in the rats treated with the plant extract. C. occidentalis favoured the performance of faecal cholesterol. It also significantly inhibited the changes and the formation of aortic atherosclerotic plaques.ConclusionThis study provides evidence of hypolipidemic and antiatherosclerotic effects of C. occidentalis extract. C. occidenntalis aqueous extract reduced bad cholesterols, triglycerides and increasing good cholesterols in rats subjected to a feeding regime enriched with cholesterol. The results support the traditional use of the extract of this plant in the treatment of hypertension and diabetes.

Flaxseed Oil Effectively Reduces the Risk of Development of Atherosclerosis in Rats Fed on High Cholesterol Diet

“…In this concept, disturbance in serum lipid profile was detected in the animals fed on HCD as evidenced from marked elevation in serum concentration of TG, T.C, VLDL and LDL-c, and depletion in HDL-c result in more than 4-fold increase in the atherogenic index above normal level. These findings are in accordance with the previous studies [20,47], who demonstrated that high cholesterol and fat diet induce a disturbance in serum lipid profile. Whereas, simultaneous co-administration of either flaxseed oil at two doses or rosuvastatin and HCD for 12 weeks were significantly suppressed the lipotropic effects of HCD in heart tissue.…”

“…Therefore, increased activity of serum CK-MB isoenzyme reflects the alterations in the plasma membrane integrity and permeability. Consistent with previous studies [50], in the present study, the elevation of serum levels of AST, LDH and CK-MB enzyme activities in HCD-group is clear indication of cardiac muscle injure and the weakness of the myocardial plasma membrane that induced by HCD [20,47]. Whereas, co-administration of FO with HCD for 12 weeks resulted in a dose dependent reduction in these serum myocardial diagnostic markers, concomitant with improvement in serum lipid profile as compared to the untreated atherogenic animals.…”

“…Myocardium contains high concentrations of diagnostic markers included serum levels of AST, LDH and CK-MB. Once myocardial cells are damaged or destroyed, the cardiac membrane becomes permeable or may rupture, resulting in leakage of cytosolic enzymes into the blood stream with concomitant increases of their serum concentrations [47]. In addition, serum level of CK-MB isoenzyme activity is an important specific diagnostic indicator for cardiac function test, owing to its marked abundance in myocardial tissue and its virtual absence from most other tissues.…”

Lipidemic Properties of Sorghum vulgare Leaf Sheath on Oxidative Markers and Heart Function Enzymes of Dyslipidemic Wistar-Albino Rats

“…The macerate was filtered using Whatman filter paper (No 1), and the filtrate was concentrated using a water bath (60°C) to obtain concentrated crude extract. The extract was stored in a freezer until further use [8].…”

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“…Phytotherapies are now recognized as several alternative countries for the treatment of CVS diseases, hyperlipidemia and the prevention of atherosclerosis, a huge number of plants have been found to lower plasma lipid levels 7,8 . Few specific examples of the plants explored their antihyperlipidemic activity Morus 9 , Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii 10 , Campomanesia adamantium 11 , Cassia occidentalis 12 , Curatella americana 13 , Morus nigra 14 , Labisia pumila 15 . As several plants with various metabolites have the potential for therapeutic applications 6,7 .…”