Abstract
BackgroundAt the present, a shift from drug therapy, especially herbal therapy, to dietary supplementation is a trend in the management of dyslipidemia and related diseases. Therefore, the optimal utilization of herbal resource is important for a sustainable development of herbal medicine. Here, we compared the effects of dietary supplementation with Chinese medicine Schisandrae Chinensis Fructus seed (FSC-S) and the post-ethanol extraction residue of FSC-S (FSC-SpEt) on normal diet-fed (normal) and experimental hypercholesterolemic (HCL) mice.MethodsMale ICR mice (n = 10 in each group), weighing 17–21 g, were fed with normal diet (ND) or high cholesterol/bile salt (1/0.3 %, w/w) diet (HCBD) with or without supplemented with FSC-S, FSC-SpEt), or lipid-lowering agent fenofibrate (FF). Ten days later, serum/hepatic lipid and glucose (GLU) levels, body weight, organ/epididymal fat masses, and food/water intake were measured. Lipid level measurements included those of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), HDL/LDL ratio, LDL/HDL ratio, and non-HDL (N-HDL).ResultsSupplementation with FSC-S and FSC-SpEt increased serum TC (by 64 and 25 %, respectively) and LDL (by 60 and 27 %, respectively) in normal mice. FSC-S supplementation elevated serum TC, TG, HDL, LDL, and LDL/HDL ratio (up to 64, 118, 77, 197, and 51 %, respectively) in HCL mice. FSC-SpEt supplementation reduced serum TG (by 15 %) and LDL/HDL ratio (by 18 %), as well as increased serum HDL (by 22 %) and HDL/LDL ratio (by 21 %) in HCBD-fed mice. FSC-S decreased hepatic TC (by 19 %) contents and increased hepatic TG contents by 14 % in normal mice. FSC-S reduced hepatic GLU level in both normal and HCL mice by 24 and 22 %, respectively. Hepatic TC and TG contents were lowered in FSC-SpEt-supplemented normal mice by 16 and 20 %, respectively. The body/fatty masse and food intake were lowered, but the feed efficiency index (FEI), weight gain per unit of food ingested, was increased in FSC-S-supplemented normal and HCL mice. FF supplements reduced serum/hepatic lipids, hepatic GLU contents, and epididymal fat mass, but it induced hepatomegaly and high serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity in normal and/or HCL mice.ConclusionThe ensemble of results indicated that while FSC-SpEt supplementation is beneficial for the treatment of hyperlipidemia/fatty liver, FSC-S is potentially useful for the management of overweight/obesity.
Highlights
At the present, a shift from drug therapy, especially herbal therapy, to dietary supplementation is a trend in the management of dyslipidemia and related diseases
With dietary and lifestyle changes such as increases in high caloric food intake and sedentary lifestyle, there has been an appreciable rise in the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and obesity/overweight in developing countries [1, 2]
While most currently used lipid-lowering and weight-loss chemicals are either expensive or having potential side effects, recent research has been focused on exploring alternative natural medicines for the prevention and/or treatment of hyperlipidemia and/or obesity [9, 10]
Summary
A shift from drug therapy, especially herbal therapy, to dietary supplementation is a trend in the management of dyslipidemia and related diseases. The optimal utilization of herbal resource is important for a sustainable development of herbal medicine. With dietary and lifestyle changes such as increases in high caloric food intake and sedentary lifestyle, there has been an appreciable rise in the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and obesity/overweight in developing countries [1, 2]. While most currently used lipid-lowering and weight-loss chemicals are either expensive or having potential side effects, recent research has been focused on exploring alternative natural medicines for the prevention and/or treatment of hyperlipidemia and/or obesity [9, 10]. The situation can partly be attributed to the waste of natural herbal resources in pharmaceutical industry
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