Research Article Antihyperlipidemic Activity of Aloe succotrina in Rats: Possibly Mediated by Inhibition of HMG-CoA Reductase

Copyright © 2014 Dinesh Dhingra et al.This is an open access article distributed under theCreative CommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The present study was designed to investigate antihyperlipidemic activity of dried pulp of Aloe succotrina leaves in Wistar albino rats. Hyperlipidemia was induced in rats by feeding them high fat diet (HFD) or D-fructose (25%w/v) for 4 successive weeks. From 15th to 28th day, dried pulp (100 and 200mg/kg, p.o) and atorvastatin (10mg/kg, p.o.) per se were administered 2 h prior to feeding rats with HFD or fructose. Aloe succotrina did not significantly decrease the body weight of rats. The dried pulp and atorvastatin per se significantly decreased relative liver weight but did not significantly affect relative heart weight. HFD or fructose significantly increased serum total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-c, and VLDL, and decreased HDL-c; significantly increased liver MDA and decreased GSH levels.The dried pulp (200mg/kg p.o.) significantly reversed high fat diet-induced and fructose-induced hyperlipidemia and atherogenic index. Aloe succotrina significantly decreased HMG Co-A reductase activity. Antihyperlipidemic effect of the dried pulp was comparable to atorvastatin. Thus, Aloe succotrina produced significant antihyperlipidemic activity in both HFD and fructose-induced hyperlipidemic rats, possibly through normalization of serum lipid profile, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitory activity, and amelioration of oxidative stress in liver. 1