Hypolipidaemic activity of aqueous ocimum basilicum extract in acute hyperlipidaemia induced by triton WR-1339 in rats and its antioxidant property

Abstract

Hyperlipidaemia, atherosclerosis and related diseases are becoming a major health problem in developing countries. Ocimum basilicum is one of the medicinal plants widely used in Morocco to reduce plasma cholesterol and to reduce the risk of atherosclerosis-related diseases. However, mechanisms underlying the reported hypolipidaemic effect of this plant have not been investigated. This study evaluates the lipid lowering effect of aqueous Ocimum basilicum extract in Triton WR-1339-induced hyperlipidaemic rats. Hyperlipidaemia was developed in animals by intraperitoneal injection of Triton (200 mg/kg). After injection of Triton the animals were divided into three treatment groups: hyperlipidaemic, hyperlipidaemic plus herb extract and hyperlipidaemic plus fenofibrate treated rats. At 7 h after the Triton injection, levels of plasma cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol in rats treated also with the Ocimum basilicum extract (0.5 g/100 g body weight) were, respectively, 50%, 83% and 79% lower than Triton-treated rats and HDL-cholesterol was 129% higher than in rats given Triton alone. At 24 h following Ocimum basilicum administration, total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol levels decreased by 56%, 63% and 68%, respectively, in comparison with the Triton treated group and HDL-cholesterol was not increased significantly. The hypolipidaemic effect exerted by Ocimum basilicum extract was markedly stronger than the effect induced by fenofibrate treatments. Further it was demonstrated that Ocimum basilicum aqueous extract displayed a very high antioxidant power. These results indicate that Ocimum basilicum extract may contain hypolipidaemic and antioxidant substances and its use as a therapeutic tool in hyperlipidaemic subjects may be of benefit and encourage further investigation in this field.

Cholesterol Lowering Potentials of a Blend of Standardized Methanol Extracts of Moringa Oleifera Leaves and Fruits in Albino Wistar Rats

“…Many plant extracts such as Ocimum basilicum L. Piper betle L. Aegle marmelos (L) [24][25][26] and many more are tested for hypo cholesterol activity. In the triton model, the extract blend significantly reduced total plasma cholesterol.…”

“…Groups IV-VI were treated with M. oleifera methanol extract mixture at the doses of 22.5, 45 and 90 mg/kg body weight respectively and Triton WR-1339; 200 mg/kg; i. p. The vehicle, reference standard and methanol extract blend were administered orally as a single dose. The blood samples of each animal were collected at different time intervals (18,24,40 and 48 h) post administration of Triton WR-1339 and treatments. Serum was separated for estimation of total cholesterol and triglycerides [18].…”

Antihypertensive effects of Ocimum basilicum L. (OBL) on blood pressure in renovascular hypertensive rats

“…2,3 In this study, we tested the effects of OBL on a rat model of hypertension, on determinants of the hypertension (angiotensin, ET) and its consequences (renal function, myocardial hypertrophy). Our results show that OBL may decrease hypertension in this Goldblatt 2K1C model, but to a lesser degree than captopril.…”

“…1 It also has effects on experimental hyperlipidemia and cholesterol metabolism. 2,3 Hypertension is with dyslipidemia and platelet activation a major contributor to cardiovascular risk 4 with clinical consequences, such as heart failure, acute coronary syndrome and ischemic stroke. 5,6 It was therefore thought useful to test whether OBL also had any effects on blood pressure in a model of experimental hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy.…”

Antidiabetic property of some Nigerian medicinal plants

“…The leaves are used to reduce plasma cholesterol in Morocco (Amrani et al, 2006) and as treatment for diabetes in Nigeria. The nematicidal (Chatterjee et al, 1982), fungistatic (Reuveni et al, 1984), antimicrobial (Ntezurubanza et al, 1984), antiulcer (Singh, 1999a), anti-inflammatory (Singh, 1999b;Benedec et al, 2007), antiplatelet aggregation (Tohti et al, 2006;Amrani et al, 2009), hypolipidemic, antioxidant (Amrani et al, 2006), antihyperglycemic and hypolipidemic (Zeggwah et al, 2007) properties have been documented. Documented biologically-active constituents of the essential oil include methyl chavicol, eugenol, linalool, camphor, and methyl cinnamate (Nishida et al, 1984).…”