Hypolipidemic effect of ethanolic extract from whole plant of Lactuca runcinata (DC.) in atherogenic diet induced hyperlipidemic rats

The present study was designed to investigate the hypolipidemic effect of ethanolic extract from whole plant of Lactuca runcinata (DC.) in rats fed with atherogenic diet (AD). The acute toxicity study shows that the ethanolic extract are safe up to 2000 mg/kg, thus one tenth of this dose was consider as evaluation dose. Ethanolic extract of Lactuca runcinata was administered in doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg/day to rats fed with atherogenic diet to assess its possible lipid-lowering potential. There was a recognize increment in the body weight in AD fed group (p<0.001), which was reduced by the administration of ethanolic extract of L. runcinata (400 mg/kg). The elevated levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids, low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C) and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C) all along with decrease in plasma HDL-C were observed in group II rats fed with atherogenic diet. After treatment of ethanolic extract of L. runcinata, (400 mg/kg/day) the result showed a significant (p<0.001) decrement in body weight, plasma and tissue total cholesterol, triglycerides, phospholipids, plasma LDL-C and VLDL-C although with an increase in plasma HDL-C when compared to group II AD rats. The ethanolic extract of L. runcinata could protect against atherosclerosis and decrease the atherogenic index and cardiac risk ratio. This finding provides some biochemical basis for the use of ethanolic extract of whole plant of L. runcinata as hypolipidemic agent having preventive and therapeutic effect against hyperlipidemia.   Key words: Atherogenic diet, hypolipidemia, Lactuca runcinata, wistar rats.