The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect of Globularia alypum aqueous extract in hypercholesterolemic rats

Abstract

Globularia alypum (G. alypum) is a medicinal plant commonly used intradi-tional pharmacopoeias. In this study, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of G. alypum lyophilized aqueous extract were evaluated. Male Wistar rats (n=24) weighing 232±10g were divided into 4 groups (n=6). Two control groups were fed a standard-diet (St-D) supplemented (C-Ga) or not (C) with 1.66% G. alypum extract. The two others were fed enriched choles-terol diet (EC-D) for 15 days, which contains the St-D plus 1% of cholesterol and 0.5% of cholic acid (HC) with the same amount of G. alypum (HC-Ga). At d28, EC-D leads to increase TBARS concentrations in plasma, lipoproteins (VLDL-LDL, HDL), tissues (liver, heart, kidney and adipose tissues) and ery-throcytes (p<0.05) in HC vs C and HC-Ga vs C-Ga. While, in HC vs C group, antioxidant defenses were decreased in tested tissues, except in kidney and heart for GSH and SOD (p<0.05). Whereas, treatment with G. alypum indu-ced a reduction of lipid peroxidation (p<0.05) in HC vs C and HC-Ga vs C-Ga by enhancing CAT and GSH-Px activities in all tissues (p<0.05); GSH and SOD activities were increased in liver, adipose tissue and erythrocytes in HC-Ga vs HC (p<0.05). Also, an increase in the concentration of IL-6 and TNF-α was noted in HC vs C group (p<0.05). Moreover, the concentration of these pro-inflammatory cytokines was diminished in HC-Ga vs HC group (p<0.05). Our findings showed that G. alypum lyophilized aqueous extract presented anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory potential in hypercholosterolemic rats and can be explored in patients with hypercholesterolemia.