Aqueous extract of Gleditsia sinensis Lam. fruits improves serum and liver lipid profiles and attenuates atherosclerosis in rabbits fed a high-fat diet

Gleditsia sinensis Lam. has been used in the traditional Chinese medicine as a chief ingredient of many polyherbal formulations for the treatment of obesity and thrombosis. To evaluate the effects of Gleditsia sinensis Lam. fruit aqueous extract (GAE) on hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis in Japanese white rabbits on a high fat diet. Rabbits were divided into four groups: the normal control with a normal diet, and high-fat diet-fed model group and GAE-treated groups supplemented with GAE (6 or 12 mg/kg/day, p.o.), respectively. The groups fed high-fat diets were given i.v. with bovine serum albumin (BSA) on the 4th week to induce atherosclerosis. The serum lipid profile, including triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), was determined on the 0th, 4th, 8th and 14th week, respectively. And the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and creatine kinase (CK) were measured simultaneously. At the end of the experiment, the rabbits were sacrificed, and the atherosclerotic plaques as well as the histopathological changes of aorta and liver were assessed by oil-red or HE staining, respectively, and the aorta and liver lipid profiles were also assayed. Results showed that the prophylactic treatment with GAE could significantly decrease the lipid levels of serum, aorta and liver, attenuate aortic atherosclerosis and improve aortic remodeling without the significant liver and muscle toxicity. The present findings suggest that GAE can effectively attenuate the atherosclerotic at least through anti-hyperlipidemic activity and thus has the therapeutic potential in treating hyperlipidemia-related cardiovascular diseases.