HYPOCHOLESTEROLEMIC EFFECT OF SAPONIN EXTRACTS IN EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS

Abstract

High cholesterol diet is regarded as a crucial factor in the development of hypercholesterolemia, atherosclerosis and ischemic heart disease. Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of mortality in the world. In recent years, great efforts have been focused on natural compounds and herbal constituents without toxic effects to provide novel therapeutic agents for hypercholesterolemia. Therefore, this study was carried out to evaluate the protective effects of steroidal saponins extracted from fenugreek and asparagus, and triterpenoidal saponins extracted from soapwort and licorice against hypercholesterolemia induced by feeding of rats on a high cholesterol diet. The present study was also aimed to compare between the efficacies of both types of saponins (steroidal and triterpenoidal) in these plant extracts against hypercholesterolemia in rats. In order to achieve these objectives, the following biological experiment was carried out: Thirty six male Albino rats of Wistar strain weighing about 100g were obtained from the farm of experimental animals in Helwan, Cairo, Egypt. The rats were housed under normal laboratory conditions. The rats had free access food and water ad libitum during the experiment period. The rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (n = 6), and the first one was fed on a basal diet and served as a normal control group. The other groups of rats were fed on a high cholesterol diet formulated form cholesterol (1%), bile salts (0.25%) and coconut butter (15%) instead of equal percentages of corn starch in the basal diet. The second group of rats received the high cholesterol diet without any plant extract and served as a negative control group. The other four groups of rats were fed on the high cholesterol diet plus various plant (fenugreek, asparagus, soapwort and licorice) extracts during the experiment period (6 weeks). The various plant extracts were administered orally for the rats by using a stomach tube every day at a dose of 250 mg/kg body weight. The protective effect of various saponin extracts were monitored through assays of total