Effects of betel nut on cardiovascular risk factors in a rat model

BMC Cardiovascular Disorders

Iqbal Azam¹  Shahid Pervez³  Ghulam Haider²  Naseema Mehboobali²  Mohammad Perwaiz Iqbal² 

[1] Community Health Sciences, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi, 74800, Pakistan;Departments of Biological & Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi, 74800, Pakistan;Pathology and Microbiology, Aga Khan University, Stadium Road, Karachi, 74800, Pakistan

关键词: Rat model;    Metabolic syndrome;    Cardiovascular disease;    Betel nut;    Areca nut;   

Others  :  858039
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2261-12-94

 received in 2012-06-07, accepted in 2012-10-22,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Areca nut (commonly known as betel nut) chewing has been shown to be associated with metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The mechanism by which betel nut ingestion could lead to development of CVD is not precisely known; however, dyslipidemia, hyperhomocysteinemia, hypertriglyceridemia and inflammation could be some of the potential risk factors. This study was undertaken to investigate the effects of two dosages of betel nut on homocysteinemia, inflammation and some of the components of metabolic syndrome, such as hypertriglyceridemia, low HDL-cholesterol, obesity and fasting hyperglycemia in a rat model.

Methods

Thirty-six adult female Sprague Dawley rats, aged 10–12 weeks were divided into three equal groups. Group-1 served as the control group (n = 12) and received water, whereas groups 2 and 3 were given water suspension of betel nut orally in two dosages, 30 mg and 60 mg, respectively for a period of 5 weeks. At the end of the fifth week, the animals were weighed and sacrificed, blood was collected and liver, kidney, spleen and stomach were removed for histological examination.

Plasma/serum was analyzed for glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides, homocysteine, folate, vitamin B₁₂ and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) – a marker of inflammation.

Results

When the mean concentration values of 3 groups were compared using one way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD-test, there was a significant increase in the concentration of total cholesterol (p = 0.04) in the group receiving 30 mg/day betel nut compared to the control group. However, administration of a higher dose of betel nut (60 mg/day) had no significant effect on the serum concentrations of glucose, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and NAG. Histological examination of spleen revealed a dose-dependent extramedullary hematopoiesis. No other remarkable change in the tissues (liver, kidney and stomach) was observed.

Mean serum/plasma levels of folate, vitamin B₁₂ and homocysteine were not found to be significantly different in all the groups. Betel nut ingestion had no effect on the mean body weights of rats.

Conclusions

Low dosage of betel nut is found to be associated with hypercholesterolemia. However, betel nut ingestion is not associated with hyperhomocysteinemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hyperglycemia, inflammation and increase in body weight in a rat model.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Iqbal et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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