The effects of concurrent hydroalcoholic extract of Amaranthus caudatus L. and Hypericum perforatum L. of fatty streak formation in hypercholesterolemic animals

Abstract

Hypercholesterolemia, a high cholesterol diet and oxidative stress increase serum low density lipoprotein (LDL) levels resulting in increased risk for development of atherosclerosis. Antioxidants play an important role in inhibiting and scavenging radicals, thus providing protection to humans against contagious and degenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to assess the anti-fatty streak effects of concurrent hydroalcoholic extracts of Amaranthus caudatus L. (A. caudatus) and Hypericum perforatum L. (H. perforatum) as this were investigated in hypercholesterolemic rabbits and was compared with lovastatin. Rabbits were randomly divided into four groups which were fed with normal diet (control), high-cholesterol diet (hypercholesterolemic control group), high-cholesterol + concurrent hydroalcoholic extracts of A. caudatus (75 mg/kg daily) and H. perforatum (75 mg/kg daily) (treatment group), and high-cholesterol + lovastatin (10 mg/kg daily) (treatment group) for 60th days and then blood samples were obtained to measure plasma cholesterol, triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), apolipoproteinA (apoA), apolipoproteinB (apoB), malondialdehyde (MDA), C-reactive protein (CRP), Ox-LDL and AI aorta was also obtained for histological evaluation. The observation showed decrease in plasma cholesterol, TG, HDL, LDL, apoB, CRP, MDA, OX-LDL, AI and increased apoA and HDL between treatment groups and hypercholesterolemic control groups (P>0.05). The mean size of produced fatty streak also showed significant reduction in the treatment groupIII compared to the hypercholesterolemic group (P<0.05). This results showed that combination of hydroalcoholic extracts of A. caudatus and H. perforatum has anti-fatty streak effects in hypercholesterolemic rabbits. Key words: Atherosclerosis, Amaranthus, Hypericum.