Effects of lycopene on blood lipid and red blood cell of rat with hypercholesterolemia

Abstract

To study the effect of lycopene on red blood cell and the level of blood lipid. According to the level of serum total cholesterol and weight, forty-eight adult male SD rats were divided randomly into six groups: normal control (group A), fed by normal feed; hyperlipidemia group (group B): fed by high fat diet; positive control group (group C): fed by high fat diet plus 10 mg * kg(-1) * d(-1) fluvastatin sodium; lycopene groups: fed by high fat diet plus 11 (group D), 22 (group E), 44 mg * kg(-1) * d(-1) (group F) lycopene through gavage, respectively. For all six groups, the level of serum total cholesterol (TC) and total triglyceride (TG) were measured at the end of 0, 1, 3 weeks of the study by taking samples from tail vein. At the end of the experiment, RBC and HGB were measured. After the rats were fed with high-fat feed for a week, models of hyperlipidemia rats were established. At the end of 3 weeks, TC of group A, B, C, D, E and F were (1.31 +/- 0.05), (19.40 +/- 0.54), (4.66 +/- 0.07), (7.18 +/- 0.06), (5.30 +/- 0.28), (4.49 +/- 0.23) mmol/L (F = 4395.72, P = 0.00), respectively;and TG were (0.42 +/- 0.01), (2.29 +/- 0.42), (0.69 +/- 0.03), (1.10 +/- 0.05), (0.63 +/- 0.02), (0.62 +/- 0.04) mmol/L (F = 127.26, P = 0.00), respectively; HGB were (143.13 +/- 6.33), (112.63 +/- 2.56), (124.75 +/- 3.62), (124.63 +/- 7.78), (132.38 +/- 6.41), (142.13 +/- 5.54) g/L (F = 34.14, P = 0.00), respectively; RBC were (6.75 +/- 0.60) x 10(12)/L, (5.08 +/- 0.75) x 10(12)/L, (7.14 +/- 0.82) x 10(12)/L, (5.94 +/- 1.09) x 10(12)/L, (6.18 +/- 0.36) x 10(12)/L and (7.31 +/- 0.58) x 10(12)/L (F = 10.35, P = 0.00), respectively. Lycopene have some protective effects on red blood cells of the hyperlipidemic rats by regulating the blood lipid and antioxidant.