Evaluation of antihyperlipidemic and antioxidant activity of Rubia Cordifolia Linn.

Hyperlipidemia is major problem among population those, who have sedentary life style. The effects of ethanolic and aqueous root extract of Rubiacordifoliain experimentally induced hyperlipidemic rats were investigated. 42 wistar rats of both sexes were used for the study. The animals were completely randomized into seven groups comprising 6 animals each. The groups were treated as follows: Group I: normal diet (ND); Group II: HFD ( Vanaspati ghee + coconut oil mixture in ratio of 3:2 at 10 ml/kg/day); Group III: HFD + Atorvastatin (10 mg/kg/day); Group IV: HFD+ ethanolic extract of roots of Rubia cordifolia low dose(200 mg/kg/day); Group V: HFD + ethanolic extract of roots of Rubia cordifolia high dose (400 mg/kg/day); Group VI: HFD + aqueous extract of roots of Rubia cordifolia low dose (200 mg/kg/day); Group VII: HFD + aqueous extract of roots of Rubia cordifolia high dose (400 mg/kg/day). Hypercholesterolemia was induced by feeding the animals with high fat diet for 21 days before administration of the extract. After 21^thday of feeding, administration of extract lasted for 14 days. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed that the ethanolic and aqueous root extract of Rubia cordifolia contains glycosides, triterpenoids, saponins, alkaloids and flavonoids. Overall, findings from the present study suggest that the antihyperlipidemic activity observed with Atorvastatin (10mg/kg oral) and the ethanolic extracts of Rubia cordifolia (400mg/kg) showed better activity thanaqueous extracts of Rubia cordifolia (200mg/kg). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]