ABSTRACT
Hypercholesterolemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Portulaca oleracea is a vegetable, known in traditional medicine and has many medicinal properties. In the present study the effects of alcoholic extract of Portulaca oleracea on blood fat profiles are evaluated. In this experimental study, 60 Wistar rats in the weight range of 170 +/- 5 g in 6 groups [n=10] were selected as follows: Control group receiving normal diet, Sham group receiving high fat diet, experimental groups receiving the Portulaca oleracea extract with maximum dose [800 mg/kg], moderate dose [400 mg/kg] and minimum dose [200 mg/kg] as intraperitoneally and injection of 10 mg/kg atorvastatin and treated with high fat diet for 21 days. After the end of this period, blood sampling and measuring obtained samples, data was analyzed using SPSS-11.5 software. Based on the results obtained from all groups receiving the extract of Portulaca oleracea herb, it was found that the level of cholesterol concentration in these groups and the level of cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in the group receiving atorvastatin significantly decreased [p