Antiatherosclerotic Activity of Methanolic Extract of Woodfordia fructicosa Flowers

In the present investigation the methanolic extract of Woodfordia fructicosa flowers at the doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg was investigated for antiatherosclerotic against high fat diet induced atherosclerosis and triton induced atherosclerosis. In high fat diet induced atherosclerosis several parameters of lipid profile such as total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG), lipoprotein profile such as low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDLc) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc), atherosclerotic markers such as alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and atherogenic index parameters such as TC/HDLc, LDLc/HDLc were determined and found to significantly altered in induction control group treated with high fat diet. The histopathological studies of liver and heart tissue were also performed wherein high fat diet showed toxic effects on cardiac and hepatic tissue. Similarly, in triton induced atherosclerosis parameters of lipid profile such as total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein and very low density lipoprotein levels were determined and were found to be significantly increased in induction control group. methanolic extract of Woodfordia fructicosa flowers showed protection against the atherosclerosis by bringing back the altered parameters to normal I both the models and showing ameliorating effects against high fat diet induced hepatic and cardiac damage. The multistep putative action of methanolic extract of flowers of Woodfordia fructicosa is attributed to the prominent phytoconstituents namely ellagic acid estimated through HPTLC analysis of the extract. Thus the study exhibited the protective effect of methanolic extract of flowers of Woodfordia fructicosa against atherosclerosis.