Effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza on body mass and levels of blood lipids and malondialdehyde in ovariectomized obese rats / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Salvia miltiorrhiza is widely used to treat angina cordis, ischemic stroke and other ischemic cardiovascular diseases. However, the effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza on ovariectomized rats remain unclear.OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of Salvia miltiorrhiza on the body mass, food intake, and levels of blood lipids and malondialdehyde (MDA) in ovariectomized rats.DESIGN: A completely randomized and controlled experiment.SETTING: Institute of Physiology and Psychology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University.MATERIALS The experiment was performed in the Key Laboratory of Pre-clinical Study for New Drugs of Gansu Province and the laboratory of Institute of Physiology and Psychology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University from November 2005 to December 2006. Twenty-four healthy female SD rats of 3 months old and (220±2) g were selected. Salvia miltiorrhiza water decoction (equal to 1 g/mL crude drug) was identified and extracted by Drug Control Institute of Gansu Province; MDA kit was purchased from Nanjing Jiancheng Institute of Bioengineering.METHODS: ①The rats were randomly divided into three groups with 8 rats in each group sham-operated group,ovariectomized group and Salvia miltiorrhiza group. The rats were underwent a bilateral ovariectomy except those in the sham-operated group, which were subjected to a removal of bilateral fat as much as ovariectomized group with the ovaries remained. Rats in sham-operated group and ovariectomized group freely drank water; rats in Salvia miltiorrhiza group freely took 1% water extracts from Salvia miltiorrhiza postoperatively, and the concentration of Salvia miltiorrhiza gradually increased to 12% on the eighth day, which was lasted until the end of the experiment (55 days). ②The food intake of rats in each group was monitored daily, and the body mass was measured every five days. At the end of the experiment, femoral artery blood samples of rats were collected to determine the levels of blood lipids. At the same time,MDA was measured according to the kit.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The body mass, food intake, levels of blood lipids and malondialdehyde in each group.RESULTS: Twenty-four rats all entered the result analysis. ①The body mass of rats in 3 groups was nearly the same before operation (P ＞ 0.05). While the body mass in ovariectomized group on the postoperatively 10th, 20th, 25th, and 55th days was significantly higher than those in sham-operated group (P ＜ 0.01). The body mass in Salvia miltiorrhiza group on the postoperatively 20th, 25th, and 55th days was significantly lower than those in ovariectomized group (P ＜0.05-0.01). ②The food intake in ovariectomized group on the postoperatively 15th, 40th, and 55th days was significantly higher than those in sham-operated group (P ＜ 0.05-0.01), and that in Salvia miltiorrhiza group was significantly lower than those in ovariectomized group at those 3 time points (P ＜ 0.05-0.01). ③At the end of the experiment, the levels of total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride in ovariectomized group were significantly higher than those in sham-operated group (P ＜ 0.05-0.01). The levels of triglyceride and MDA in Salvia miltiorrhiza group were significantly lower than those in ovariectomized group (P＜0.01, 0.05).CONCLUSION: Salvia miltiorrhiza can significantly reduce the body mass and levels of triglyceride and MDA in ovariectomized rats.