Effect of Centella asiatica on Oxidative Stress and Lipid Metabolism in Hyperlipidemic Animal Models

Hyperlipidemia and many other metabolic diseases are related to oxidative stress. Centella asiatica is a traditional Chinese medicine whose antioxidant effect in vitro has been reported. We are interested in whether it possesses this effect in vivo and hence modulates lipid metabolism. Therefore, ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yun Zhao, Ping Shu, Youzhi Zhang, Limin Lin, Haihong Zhou, Zhentian Xu, Daqin Suo, Anzhi Xie, Xin Jin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2014-01-01
Series:Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/154295
Description
Summary:Hyperlipidemia and many other metabolic diseases are related to oxidative stress. Centella asiatica is a traditional Chinese medicine whose antioxidant effect in vitro has been reported. We are interested in whether it possesses this effect in vivo and hence modulates lipid metabolism. Therefore, experiments were carried out on mice and golden hamsters regarding its antioxidant and hypolipidemic effect. We observed that a fraction (CAF3) of the ethanol extract (CAE) of Centella asiatica had a cholesterol decrease of 79% and a triglyceride decrease of 95% in acute mice model, so CAF3 was further investigated in high-fat-fed hamster model. It was shown that CAF3 increased SOD and GSH-Px activities and decreased MDA level, and it also improved TC, TG, LDL-C, HDL-C, AST, and ALT levels. L-CAT and SR-BI gene expression in hamsters were increased. Taken together, our data suggest that the CAF3 fraction of Centella asiatica has antioxidant and hypolipidemic properties.
ISSN:1942-0900
1942-0994