Study of the effect of feeding two cultivars of purslane (Portulaca Oleracea I.)‎ on lipid profile and lipid peroxidation of adult male sprague dawley rats

Abstract EN

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding purslane on lipid profile and lipid peroxidation in adult male Sprague Dawley rats fed high cholesterol diet.

Wild and cultivated purslane were collected, dried and milled to be used in rat diets.

Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats at 9 weeks of age, weighing (200-250g) were randomly divided into four experimental groups, 10 rats each, and fed either normal diet (group 1) or high cholesterol diet (HCD) (1% cholesterol) (groups 2, 3 and 4) for 4 weeks, at the end of the fourth week, the prepared wild and cultivated purslane plants were administered at 2.5% to (groups 3 and 4, respectively) for another 8 weeks.

The addition of wild and cultivated purslane significantly lowered the serum cholesterol levels in groups 3 and 4 to 133.1 ± 34.5 and 130.9 ± 21.2 mg/dl, respectively, in comparison to HCD group without purslane (169.8 ± 57.9), and low- density lipoprotein (LDL) levels (96.3 ± 32.8 and 95.4 ± 20.1 mg/dl) in comparison to HCD group without purslane (132.5 ± 62.5).

Blood peroxidation (MDA) values in wild and cultivated purslane groups (10.9 ± 1.6 and 10.9 ± 2.8 nmol/ml) were significantly lower than the MDA level in groups 1 and 2 (14.3±3.0 and 15.8±5.0 nmol/ml respectively).

In conclusion, the addition of purslane to the diet of rats decreased serum cholesterol, LDL and lipid peroxidation levels indicating that the plant could have important medical implications.