An Assessment of Anti-hyperlipidemic Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Gymnema sylvestre on Rat Model

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are now the leading cause of global death. Almost 17.9 million people die every year due to cardiovascular diseases. Hyperlipidemia is one of the major causes of cardiovascular diseases. Increased cholesterol level increases the risk of stroke and other heart diseases. To reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases, hyperlipidemia must be controlled. There are already several drugs such as instance Atorvastatin (Lipitor), Simvastatin (Zocor), Fluvastatin, Lovastatin, etc. available in the market. But the drugs have some side effects also. To decrease the side effects and ensure natural treatment several medicinal plants are being searched for having antihyperlipidemic activity. Gymnema Sylvestre is one of them. If the drug gives antihyperlipidemic activity then it will open a new doorway for natural medicine in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. To inspect that, the leaves of the plant were collected, purified, dried, and then soaked in ethanol. This infusion was then preserved. 80 adult Wister rats were divided into 9 groups. Hyperlipidemia was introduced to group 2 to 6 by giving a high-fat diet. Then, the Negative control group has no disease nor is treated with any drug. One of the disease groups was treated with a marketed drug. Three groups were treated with the Gymnema Sylvestre infusion in low, medium, and high doses. Three groups without disease were done the same to inspect the drug activity on normal physiological function. A high dose of Gymnema Sylvestre decreases the total cholesterol level significantly. Medium and high dose causes the same in the case of triglyceride level. In liver function tests, medium and high doses of the drug cause a significant decrease in SCPT and SGOT levels. In the case of kidney function tests, all doses decrease creatinine levels, and only high doses decrease urea levels. So, we can the drug has antihyperlipidemic activity and has no remarkable side effects. Thus, it can be used as an antihyperlipidemic agent.