Antihyperlipidemic effects of rhapontin and rhapontigenin from rheum undulatum in rats fed a high-cholesterol diet.

Abstract

Rhapontin was purified from a methanol extract from the roots of Rheum undulatum, and rhapontigenin was produced by an enzymatic transformation of rhapontin. Rats were fed a high-cholesterol diet to induce hyperlipidemia, followed by oral treatment with rhapontin or rhapontigenin (1-5 mg/kg/day). Rhapontin and rhapontigenin treatment resulted in a significant (p<0.05) dose-dependent decrease in the serum lipid level, while the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level increased slightly compared with the experimental control. Furthermore, rhapontin and rhapontigenin treatment improved the pathological characteristics of the degenerating fatty liver in high-cholesterol diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats dose-dependently. Aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels in rhapontin- and rhapontigenin-treated hyperlipidemic rats were not significantly different from those in the control. These results indicate that rhapontin and rhapontigenin can be used as potent antihyperlipidemic agents.

• Authors: Sung-Pil Jo, Jeong-Keun Kim, Young-Hee Lim
• Journal: Planta medica (Planta Med) Vol. 80 Issue 13 Pg. 1067-71 (Aug 2014) ISSN: 1439-0221 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 25127020 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Chemical References

• Hypolipidemic Agents
• Plant Extracts
• Stilbenes
• Triglycerides
• rhapontigenin
• Cholesterol
• rhapontin

Topics

• Animals
• Cholesterol (blood)
• Fatty Liver (drug therapy)
• Hyperlipidemias (drug therapy)
• Hypolipidemic Agents (chemistry, isolation & purification, therapeutic use)
• Plant Extracts (chemistry, therapeutic use)
• Rats
• Rats, Sprague-Dawley
• Rheum (chemistry)
• Stilbenes (chemistry, isolation & purification, therapeutic use)
• Triglycerides (blood)