Pioglitazone improves serum lipid profile in diet induced hyperlipidaemic non diabetic rats.

Objective: To evaluate the anti-dyslipidaemic effects of pioglitazone in diet-induced non-diabetic hyperlipidaemic rats and to compare them with gemfibrozil.
Methods: This comparative animal study was conducted at the Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore, Pakistan, from July to September 2011, and comprised Sprague Dawley albino rats divided into three equal groups. Initially all three groups were given high-lipid diet containing cholesterol 1.5g, coconut oil 8ml and sodium cholate 1.0g per 100g of rat chow to induce hyperlipidaemia. From 4th to 8th week, Group A (control) was given 0.5ml of distilled water, Group B was given pioglitazone 10mg/kg body weight, and Group C was given gemfibrozil 10mg/kg body weight as single morning dose by oral route for a period of 04 weeks in addition to hyperlipidaemic diet. Serum lipid levels were estimated at zero, 4th and 8th week. Blood sugar level was estimated at 4th week to exclude diabetic rats.SPSS 17 was used for data analysis.
Results: Of the 27 rats, each group had 9(33.33%) rats. At the start of the study, the mean weight was 254.44±14.67g in Group A, 255.11±14.66g in Group B and 252.22±14.18g in Group C. It was 352.22±16.79g, 332.22±17.19 and 328.11± 12.92 at the 8th week. The mean total cholesterol at 0 week was 71.4±4.88 mg/dl in Group A, 71.9±7.03 in Group B and 73.4±5.27 in Group C. At the 8th week, the values were 161.8±9.2 mg/dl, 100.8±7.0 and 95.0±6.6. The mean low-density lipoproteincholesterol levels in the respective groups were 30.2±4.9mg/dl, 32.2±7.0 and 33.6±6.0 at 0 week; 77.8±8.4, 85.1± 15.3 and 86.9± 6.3 at the 4th week and 113.9± 10.1, 60.4± 9.2 (p< 0.001) and 54.8± 6.6 (p< 0.001) at the 8th week.The mean serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol at the 8th week was 11.4± 1.7 mg/dl, 19.7± 2.4 (p< 0.001) and 19.2± 2.5 (p< 0.001) in the three groups, respectively.
Conclusions: Treatment with pioglitazone improved serum lipid profile of non-diabetic hyperlipidaemic rats equivalent to that of gemfibrozil.