Lipid-Lowering and Antioxidative Activities of Aqueous Extracts ofOcimum sanctumL. Leaves in Rats Fed with a High-Cholesterol Diet

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the lipid-lowering and antioxidative activities of Ocimum sanctum L. (OS) leaf extracts in liver and heart of rats fed with high-cholesterol (HC) diet for seven weeks. The results shows that OS suppressed the high levels of serum lipid profile and hepatic lipid content without significant effects on fecal lipid excretion. Fecal bile acids excretion was increased in HC rats treated with OS. The high serum levels of TBARS as well as AST, ALT, AP, LDH, CK-MB significantly decreased in HC rats treated with OS. OS suppressed the high level of TABARS and raised the low activities of GPx and CAT without any impact on SOD in the liver. As for the cardiac tissues, OS lowered the high level of TABARS, and raised the activities of GPx, CAT, and SOD. Histopathological results show that OS preserved the liver and myocardial tissues. It can be concluded that OS leaf extracts decreased hepatic and serum lipid profile, and provided the liver and cardiac tissues with protection from hypercholesterolemia. The lipid-lowering effect is probably due to the rise of bile acids synthesis using cholesterol as precursor, and antioxidative activity to protect liver from hypercholesterolemia.

Anti-Oxidative, Anti-Hyperglycemic and Lipid-Lowering Effects of Aqueous Extracts of <i>Ocimum sanctum</i> L. Leaves in Diabetic Rats

“…As mentioned earlier, diabetes impairs not only the liver and kidney but also the heart. Numerous studies have revealed that OS leaves had organ protective activities against various stress conditions including hyperlipidemia, heavy metal exposure and cancer [13] [15] [16]. Our results show that diabetes impaired liver, kidney and heart functions as expressed by an augmentation of serum levels of AST, ALT, ALP, creatinine, BUN, LDH and CK-MB ( Table 2).…”

“…Aqueous extract of OS leaf extracts also delayed insulin resistance in normal rats fed with fructose diet [10], and also decreased blood glucose level in streptozotocin-induced DM rats [11] [12]. OS leaves possess not only antihyperglycemic activity but also organ protective effect against various stress conditions such as hyperlipidemia [13], inflammation [14] carcinogens [15], heavy metal [16] [17] and isoproterenal-induced myocardial necrosis [18]. It is known that the liver and kidney are the primary risk organs in diabetes.…”

Antidyslipidemic Effect of Ocimum sanctum Leaf Extract in Streptozotocin Induced Diabetic Rats

“…Thus characteristic diabetic-dyslipidemia is that of low HDL-cholesterol, hypertriglyceridemia-predominantly in VLDL and presence of high atherogenic sd-LDL particles. Earlier studies have shown that feeding with O. sanctum leaf extract caused lowering in blood sugar levels, serum and tissue lipids in diabetic rats [19]. It regulate carbohydrate metabolism in STZ induced diabetes in rats [20].…”

Pathological research on acute hepatic and renal tissue damage in Wistar rats induced by cocoa

“…Clinical surveys and animal model experiments have revealed that raised levels of ALT and AST activities are indicative of organ damage, specifically, in pathologic and toxicologic events leading to cardiac and hepatic necrosis [29,[42][43][44] . Precisely, earlier studies had associated raised serum ALT activity with non-diabetic non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and insulin resistance [45][46][47][48][49][50] .…”