Effect of alternate-day fasting therapy combined with Linggui Zhugan Decoction () on hepatic oxidative stress in hyperlipidemic rat.

Abstract

To observe the effect of alternate-day fasting (ADF) therapy combined with Linggui Zhugan Decoction (, LZD) on hepatic oxidative stress and blood lipids in hyperlipidemic rats. Fifty-two Wistar rats were randomly assigned to two groups: the high-fat-diet (HF) group and the normal-diet (ND) group. Hyperlipidemia was induced by feeding rats with high-cholesterol-diet for 5 weeks. Then the HF group was randomized to the model-control (MC) group, the alternate-day-fasting (ADF) group, and the ADF combined with LZD (AL) group. The ND group was regarded as the negative control (NC) group. The AL and ADF groups were put on fast for 24 h on alternate days for 4 weeks. The AL group was administrated with LZD on the fast days. Body weight and food intake were measured once a week. After 4-week ADF, blood sample was collected for determination of plasma total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Liver oxidative stress parameters including total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) level and glutathione (GSH) content were also tested. Body weight in the HF group decreased significantly (P<0.01). TC, TG, HDL-C, and LDL-C concentrations in the HF group were higher than those in the NC group (P<0.01), respectively. T-SOD in the HF group was clearly lower than that in the NC group (P<0.05). After 4-week intervention, body weight, TC and TG concentrations in the ADF and AL groups declined significantly, respectively, compared to MC group (P<0.05). GSH in the ADF and AL groups were much higher than those in the MC group (P<0.01). MDA level was also greatly higher in the ADF group as compared with the NC group (P<0.05). ADF therapy combined with LZD may be used as an effective combination approach for treatment of hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress damage.