Effect of the Plants Mixture and Garlic Composition on Serum Lipid Level of Hypercholesterolemic Rats

This study was designed to investigate the effects of 4 kinds of plant water extract mixture and garlic extract (PMC) administration on serum lipid metabolism in hypercholestrolemic rats. The normal group was administered a cholesterol free diet, the control group a 1% cholesterol diet, and each experimental group was given a diet of 1% cholesterol, 1% plant mixture and 0.3, 0.5, 0.7% garlic extract (PMC-I, PMC-II, PMC-III), respectively. Each diet was administered orally to SD-male rats for 4 weeks. Total cholesterol content decreased by about 20% with administration of PMC. Triglyceride content also decreased from 9.3 to 15.0% compared to the control group, and phospholipid was similar to triglyceride. There was no significant difference in HDL-cholesterol content between the control and experimental groups. LDL-cholesterol content of the normal group was 9.4 times lower than the control group and its content was significantly lower in the PMC-II () and PMC-III () groups than the PMC-I group. VLDL-cholesterol content of the PMC-II and III groups were similar to the normal group. Atherogenic index (AI) and cardiac risk factor (CRF) were significantly lower in the PMC group. Blood glucose content was the lowest in the PMC-II () group among all groups tested. Total protein content was in the PMC-I~III groups and was significantly higher than the normal group. CPT activity did not show a significant difference among the experimental groups, while COT activity was effective only in the PMC-I group. Serum TBARS content in the PMC-III group was lower than in the normal group. Serum antioxidant activity by DPPH radical scavenging was in the PMC-III group, which was significantly higher than the control group.