Research Article | OPEN ACCESS
Effects of Simvastatin and Vitamin E on Diet-induced Hypercholesterolemia in Rats
1Heba M. Mahmoud, 2Hala F. Zaki, 3Gamal A. El Sherbiny and 4Hekma A. Abd El-Latif
1Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Suef University,
Beni-Suef, Egypt
2Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt
3Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Kafr El-Sheikh University, Egypt
4Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Umm al Qura University, Makkah, KSA
British Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology 2014 1:16-25
Received: September 04, 2013 | Accepted: September 14, 2013 | Published: February 20, 2014
Abstract
Hypercholesterolemia is a dominant risk factor for the development and progression of atherosclerosis and its related cardiovascular diseases. The present study aimed to explore the effects of simvastatin combined with vitamin E on diet-induced hypercholesterolemia in rats. In the present study, hypercholesterolemia was induced by feeding rats with cholesterol-rich diet for six weeks. Rats were divided into 5 groups (n = 8): normal control, hypercholesterolemic control, simvastatin (20 mg/kg; p.o.), vitamin E (200 mg/kg; p.o.) and combination of both simvastatin and vitamin E. Drugs were given simultaneously with cholesterol-rich diet for six weeks. Diet-induced hypercholesterolemia resulted in alterations in the lipid profile markers and a state of oxidative stress coupled by compensatory increase in serum level of Nitric Oxide metabolites (NOx) and decreased aortic endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activity parallel to increased Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS) activity, calcium content and aortic wall thickness. Treatment with simvastatin, vitamin E and their combination improved lipid profile and oxidative stress markers. In addition, they attenuated hypercholesterolemia-induced changes in serum NOx, aortic eNOS and iNOS activities as well as calcium content and aortic wall thickness. The results of combination therapy were better compared to simvastatin monotherapy. Pretreatment of hypercholesterolemic rats with simvastatin and vitamin E attenuated most of the changes induced in rats by cholesterol-rich die to wing to their observed anti-hyperlipidemic and antioxidant properties.
Keywords:
Hypercholesterolemia, lipid profile, nitric oxide synthases, oxidative stress, simvastatin, vitamin E,
Competing interests
The authors have no competing interests.
Open Access Policy
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Copyright
The authors have no competing interests.
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ISSN (Online): 2044-2467
ISSN (Print): 2044-2459 |
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