ORIGINAL ARTICLECurrently, there has been an observed interest in phytochemicals as a new hypolipidemic agents to replace synthetic toxic hypolipidemic drugs. The investigation was carried out to evaluate the hypolipidemic effects of ethanolicextract of Cyperus esculentumis in triton-induced hyperlipidemic rats. The ethanolic extract of the plant was administered orally to rats at the doses of 300,400 and 600mg/kg body weight for a period of twenty nine days in accordance with the Ethical committee on experimental animals. Hyperlipidemia was developed by interaperitoneal injection of Triton at a dose 250mg/kg b.wt. to wistar rats . Intraperitoneal injection of Triton WR-1339 at a dose of 250mg/kg to rats resulted in the increase in serum triglyceride, total cholesterol , low density and very low density lipoproteins cholesterol accompanied by reduction in the high density lipoprotein cholesterol .The histopathological examination also revealed that there were remarkable histopathological changes in the aorta and artery of rats induced with Triton WR-1339 . The damages were manifested as ulceration and stenosis .Pretreatment with the ethanolic tuber extract of Cyperus esculentumis led to significant reduction of TC, TG, LDL and VLDL cholesterol in triton-induced hyperlipidemic rats as compared to the control. There was also an increased in HDL-cholesterol and attenuation of histopathological damages. Among the different doses administered, only 600 mg/kg exhited statistical significant effects. Other doses 300 and 400mg/kg showed mild toxicity. This finding suggests that the cholesterol-lowering effect of Cyperus esculentumis may be due to the enhancement of LDL-C metabolism which might be attributed to the presence of the valuable phytochemicals in the extract. Keywords