Chemical Composition and Hypolipidemic Effects of an Aromatic Water of Ziziphora tenuior L. in Cholesterol-fed Rabbits

Abstract

Dyslipidemia is one of the major components of metabolic syndrome. The aims of this study were to determine whether aromatic water (AW) derived from Ziziphora tenuior L. (ZT) could improve lipid profile of cholesterol-fed rabbits. Control group received standard pellet and daily gavaged by 10 ml distilled water. Three other groups were fed 15% sunflower oil/0.47% cholesterol (HC) diet and concomitantly gavaged with 0, 1 and 3% v/w AW dissolved in 10 ml distilled water, respectively. HC diet increased the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGs), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), very low density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C), atherogenic index (AI) and coronary heart disease index (CHD) in comparison to standard chew diet and none of treatments was able to restore the serum lipids to basal levels. However, inclusion of 3% AW of ZT declined the levels of TC, TGs, LDL-C, HDL-C, VLDL-C, AI and CHD more than those of 1% AW of ZT as compared with HC diet. The GC-MS analysis of hydrodistilled essential oil derived from ZT showed towenty-five known components. Pulegone, isomenthone, limonene, and 8-hydroxy-delta-4(5)-p-menthen-3-one were major compounds. In sum, AW of ZT and showed hypocholesterolemic and overt hypotriglyceridemic effects