Hypocholesterol effect of Opuntia humifusa extract on high cholesterol diet-induced hypercholesterolemic rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the hypocholesterol effects of Opuntia humifusa extract in hypercholesterolemic rats. Rats (8-week-old, male) were randomly divided into four groups (n=4) as follows: N-control, normal diet; H-control, hypercholesterolemic diet; OH-1, 2% O. humifusa extract-supplemented hypercholesterolemic diet; OH-2, 4% O. humifusa extract-supplemented hypercholesterolemic diet. After 4 weeks, we observed that hypercholesterolemia induced significant increases in serum lipids (total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol), hepatic lipids (total cholesterol and triglyceride), and hepatic function parameters (ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase) (P<0.05). Treatment with O. humifusa extract for 2 weeks normalized these indexes up to the levels of normal rats. O. humifusa extract tended to increase fecal lipid (H-control: 142.74 mg/day vs. OH-1: 214.05 mg/day; OH-2: 200.95 mg/day, P<0.05) and bile acid (H-control: 37.07 μM/day vs. OH-1: 47.23 μM/day, OH-2: 47.93 μM/day, P<0.05) contents of hypercholesterolemic rats. We concluded that oral administration of O. humifusa extract effectively improved cholesterol metabolism in a hypercholesterolemic animal model induced by hypercholesterol diet.