Abuelgassim Abuelgassim O, Al-showayman Showayman I A
Department of Biochemistry, King Saud University P.O.Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med. 2011 Oct 2;9(1):131-7. doi: 10.4314/ajtcam.v9i1.18. eCollection 2012.
The present study aimed to examine the effect of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds supplementation on atherogenic diet-induced atherosclerosis. Rat were divided into two main groups , normal control and atherogenic control rats , each group composed of three subgroups one of them supplemented with 2% arginine in drinking water and the other supplemented with pumpkin seeds in diet at a concentration equivalent to 2% arginine. Supplementation continued for 37 days. Atherogenic rats supplemented with pumpkin seeds showed a significant decrease (p<0.001) in their serum concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL - C as they dropped from 4.89 mmol / L to 2.55 mmol /L and from 3.33 mmol / L to 0.70 mmol / L respectively. Serum concentrations of HDL-C were also significantly elevated in the same group. Although, atherogenic rats supplemented with 2% arginine showed significant increase in serum concentration of HDL-C, no significant changes were observed in their serum concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL-C. Our results showed that treatment of atherogenic rats with pumpkin seeds significantly decreased serum concentrations of TC and LDL-C. Our findings suggest that pumpkin seeds supplementation has a protective effect against atherogenic rats and this protective effect was not attributed to the high arginine concentrations in pumpkin seeds.
本研究旨在探讨补充南瓜（西葫芦）籽对致动脉粥样硬化饮食诱导的动脉粥样硬化的影响。将大鼠分为两个主要组，正常对照组和致动脉粥样硬化对照组，每组由三个亚组组成，其中一个亚组在饮用水中补充2%精氨酸，另一个亚组在饮食中补充相当于2%精氨酸浓度的南瓜籽。补充持续37天。补充南瓜籽的致动脉粥样硬化大鼠血清总胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白胆固醇浓度显著降低（p<0.001），分别从4.89 mmol/L降至2.55 mmol/L和从3.33 mmol/L降至0.70 mmol/L。同一组中高密度脂蛋白胆固醇的血清浓度也显著升高。虽然，补充2%精氨酸的致动脉粥样硬化大鼠高密度脂蛋白胆固醇的血清浓度显著升高，但其血清总胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白胆固醇浓度未观察到显著变化。我们的结果表明，用南瓜籽治疗致动脉粥样硬化大鼠可显著降低血清总胆固醇和低密度脂蛋白胆固醇浓度。我们的研究结果表明，补充南瓜籽对致动脉粥样硬化大鼠具有保护作用，且这种保护作用并非归因于南瓜籽中高浓度的精氨酸。
