Arctium lappa ameliorates endothelial dysfunction in rats fed with high fat/cholesterol diets

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Guk Hyun Cho¹  Deok Ho Choi¹  Dae Gill Kang²  Ho Sub Lee²  Yun Jung Lee²  Jin Sook Kim³ 

[1] College of Oriental Medicine and Professional Graduate School of Oriental Medicine, Wonkwang University, 570-749, Shinyong-dong, Iksan, Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea;College of Oriental Medicine and Professional Graduate School of Oriental Medicine, Wonkwang University, 570-749, Shinyong-dong, Iksan, Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea;Hanbang Body-fluid Research Center, Wonkwang University, Shinyong-dong, 570-749, Iksan, Jeonbuk, Republic of Korea;Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Jeonmin-dong, 305-811, Yusung-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea;

关键词: Arctium lappa;    Hyperlipidemia;    Hypertension;    Vasorelaxation;    Inflammation;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-12-116

 received in 2011-09-23, accepted in 2012-07-30,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundArctium lappa L. (Asteraceae), burdock, is a medicinal plant that is popularly used for treating hypertension, gout, hepatitis, and other inflammatory disorders. This study was performed to test the effect of ethanol extract of Arctium lappa L. (EAL) seeds on vascular reactivity and inflammatory factors in rats fed a high fat/cholesterol diet (HFCD).MethodEAL-I (100 mg·kg−1/day), EAL-II (200 mg·kg−1/day), and fluvastatin (3 mg·kg−1/day) groups initially received HFCD alone for 8 weeks, with EAL supplementation provided during the final 6 weeks.ResultsTreatment with low or high doses of EAL markedly attenuated plasma levels of triglycerides and augmented plasma levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in HFCD-fed rats. Chronic treatment with EAL markedly reduced impairments of acetylcholine (ACh)-induced relaxation of aortic rings. Furthermore, chronic treatment with EAL significantly lowered systolic blood pressure (SBP) and maintained smooth and flexible intimal endothelial layers in HFCD-fed rats. Chronic treatment with EAL suppressed upregulation of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1, vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1, and E-selectin in the aorta. Chronic treatment with EAL also suppressed increases in matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 expression. These results suggested that EAL can inhibit HFCD-induced vascular inflammation in the rat model.ConclusionThe present study provides evidence that EAL ameliorates HFCD-induced vascular dysfunction through protection of vascular relaxation and suppression of vascular inflammation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Lee et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012