Effect of Stellaria media Tea on Lipid Profile in Rats

Abstract

Background. In folk medicine, common chickweed (Stellaria media) has traditionally been applied for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia; however, there is no firm experimental proof to support the rationale of this practice. Therefore, we aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of Stellaria media tea in hypercholesterolemic rats. Materials and Methods. Adult male Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups. The (i) control group received standard laboratory chow, the (ii) hypercholesterolemic group received cholesterol-enriched diet, and the (iii) chickweed-treated hypercholesterolemic group received cholesterol-enriched diet and 100 mg/kg body weight Stellaria media tea lyophilizate for 8 weeks. Blood samples were collected to determine serum lipid profile as well as liver and kidney function, and echocardiography was performed to assess cardiac morphology and function. Results. Cholesterol-enriched diet significantly increased serum total cholesterol, LDL- and HDL-cholesterol levels, but did not affect triacylglycerol concentrations. The addition of chickweed to the diet did not cause any significant change in serum lipid profile or body weight increase. Liver and kidney functions were unaltered and cardiac morphology and function were not changed due to Stellaria media tea lyophilizate. Conclusion. Although chickweed does not seem to be toxic, our results do not support the rationale of its use in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia.

Diet-Induced Hypercholesterolemia Leads to Cardiac Dysfunction and Alterations in the Myocardial Proteome

“…Likewise, diminished cardiac function was also observed in hypercholesterolemic animals in vivo [19,20]. In accordance with the literature, our measured echocardiographic parameters suggest impaired diastolic function [21], while the ventricular wall thicknesses remained unaffected in the hypercholesterolemic myocardium, similar to previous studies [4,22].…”

“…Cardiac morphology and function were assessed by transthoracic echocardiography at week 8, as described previously [22,24]. The rats were anesthetized with 2% isoflurane (Forane, AESICA, Queenborough Limited, Kent, UK).…”

Evaluation of In Vitro Wound-Healing Potential, Antioxidant Capacity, and Antimicrobial Activity of Stellaria media (L.) Vill

“…The peak from around 0.450 V can be attributed to ascorbic acid oxidation, leading to a content of 0.47 ± 0.003 µg/mL. The value of AEAC was 26 ± 0.02 µg/mL, which indicates an important antioxidant capacity of SM extract, in accordance with other studies employing spectrophotometric methods [14][15][16][17].…”

Stellaria media tea protects against diabetes-induced cardiac dysfunction in rats without affecting glucose tolerance

“…hypercholesterolaemia, where we demonstrated that the treatment has no blood cholesterol lowering effect in diet-induced hypercholesterolaemia in rats. 31 In the same study, we investigated some safety issues of the Stellaria media treatment on the heart. Our transthoracic echocardiographic measurements showed that Stellaria media treatment did not affect cardiac morphology and parameters related to cardiac function in diet-induced hypercholesterolaemia.…”

“…Our transthoracic echocardiographic measurements showed that Stellaria media treatment did not affect cardiac morphology and parameters related to cardiac function in diet-induced hypercholesterolaemia. 31 …”