Hypercholesterolemia is one of the most important risk factors for atherosclerosis and subsequentcardiovascular disease. In the present study, the therapeutic effect of curcumin (CUR) administration onserum lipid profile, apolipoprotein A (apo A), apolipoprotein B (apo B), Lipoprotein a Lp (a), homocysteineand endotheline-1 (ET-1) in high cholesterol diet-induced hypercholesterolemia in rats have beenevaluated. This study was carried out on 60 male rats. The rats were divided into four equal groups of 15rats each. Group ? :( Control group): rats fed on normal diet. Group ?: Rats fed with hypercholesterolemicdiet (HCD) [4% cholesterol (w/w) and 1% cholic acid] and received no drug all over the period of theexperiment. Group III: Rats fed with HCD administrated with curcumin (200 mg/kg, body weight/dayorally) after two weeks from the onset of the experiment (induction of hypercholesterolemia).Group IV:Rats fed with normal diet administrated with curcumin (200 mg/kg, body weight/day orally) after twoweeks from the onset of the experiment. Blood samples were collected from all animal groups three timesat 2, 4 and 6 weeks from the onset of treatment with curcumin. The obtained results showed that, cholesterolinducedhypercholesterolemia caused a marked increase in serum total cholesterol, triacylglycerols, LDLC,VLDL-C, phospholipids, lipoprotein A, Apo B, endothelin-1 and homocysteine. On the other hand, asignificant decrease in serum HDL�C and Apo A were observed in high cholesterol diet-inducedhypercholesterolemia in rats. Treatment with curcumin to high cholesterol diet-inducedhypercholesterolemia rats lowered serum total cholesterol, triacylglycerols, LDL-C, VLDL-C,phospholipid, endothelin-1 and homocysteine concentration, in addition to, increasing HDL-C and Apo A.These results suggest that, curcumin may be effective in controlling cholesterolemic status and improvingdyslipidemia and has the potential in reducing cardiovascular complications due to hypercholesterolemia.
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