Effect of Artemisia sieberi Besser on Plasma Lipoproteins Levels and Progression of Fatty Streak in Hypercholesterolemic Rabbits

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is invariably the most frequent cause of death in most of the west countries. Atherosclerosis which is the most common risk factor for CHD caused by a gradual deposition of fats and lipids in muscular arteries. Many species of Artemisia from Compositeae family have hypolipidemic and antioxidative properties. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of Artemisia sieberi extract on blood lipids and development of atherosclerosis in rabbits fed by a high cholesterol diet. For this objective 15 male rabbits were randomly divided in three groups (normal diet, hypercholesterolemic diet (HCD) and HCD + 100 mg/kg body weight Artemisia sieberi extract). Total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol, triglycerides (TG) and HDL cholesterol were measured before starting and after 1st and 2nd months of experimental period. After two months, rabbits were killed following chloroform over dose and their aortas were removed for assessment of atherosclerotic plaques. The results indicate that Artemisia sieberi significantly reduces the levels of TC, LDL, TG and TC/HDL and significantly increase the level of HDL. The atherosclerotic plaque formation was significantly reduced in Artemisia sieberi group as compared to the control hypercholesterolemic group.