Hypocholesterolemic activity of cornelian cherry (Cornus mas L.) fruits

Background Lipid profile disturbances are important risk factors for cardiovascular events in patients with diabetes mellitus and finding safe and multifaceted agents is persuaded in this regard. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of cornelian cherry dried powder (CCDP) on serum lipid profile as well as liver antioxidant capacity, HMG-CoA reductase level and activity, and LDL receptor level in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Methods Forty-eight male adult Wistar rats were randomly allocated into eight equal groups and were treated for 4 weeks as follows: negative control (normal rats, basic diet); positive control (diabetic rats, basic diet), T1 to T4 groups: diabetic rats fed with basic diet containing 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2 g/ 100 g BW CCDP, respectively; T5: diabetic rats fed with basic diet plus 10 mg/kg lovastatin in drinking water and T6: normal rats fed with basic diet containing 1 g/ 100 g BW CCDP. Results Administration of CCDP had no significant effect on serum glucose levels in diabetic rats however decreased total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and liver antioxidant capacity as compared to positive control rats (p<0.05). Although HMG-CoA reductase level showed a significant decrease only in T3 group, its activity was reduced in all diabetic CCDP and lovastatin-treated groups as compared to positive control. LDL receptor level remained statistically the same among positive control and CCDP-treated groups. Conclusions In conclusion, the present study confirms hypocholesterolemic effect of CCDP in diabetic rats and demonstrated that this effect was at least partly due to inhibition of liver HMG-CoA reductase activity.