JIAN-DONG JIANG^1,a, YAN ZHOU^2,a, LI QIAN²*, GUANG-RONG BIAN²,
AI-XIA ZHUANG¹, QING-HONG ZENG¹, ZUO WANG²
*Corresponding author
a. These authors contributed equally to this work
1. Department of Neurology, The Second People’s Hospital of Lianyungang,
41 East Hailian Road, Xinpu, 222006, China
2. Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second People’s Hospital of Lianyungang,
41 East Hailian Road, Xinpu, 222006, China

Abstract

Hyperlipidaemia is one of major risk factors for the development of coronary artery diseases and atherosclerosis and therapeutic drugs must be developed for it. Lycium barbarum fruit is used in traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, L. barbarum oligosaccharides (LBOs) were prepared through hydrolysis with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and their hypolipidaemic activities were evaluated. A total of 24 male Sprague–Dawley rats were categorised into three treatment groups fed with high fat, LBOs and normal-fat diets, respectively. Oral administration of LBOs decreased body weight gain, total cholesterol level, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level and liver weight. LBOs diet also increased the levels of faecal fat, cholesterol and plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, as well as the activity of liver and serum lipoprotein lipases. Results suggested that LBOs exhibited high hypolipidaemic activity and could be explored as possible therapeutic agents for hyperlipidaemia.

INTRODUCTION

Hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia are major risk factors for the development of coronary artery diseases and atherosclerosis (1). In this regard, therapeutic drugs must be developed for hyperlipidaemia. Chemosynthetic drugs effectively decrease serum cholesterol levels and are widely used to treat patients with hypercholesterolaemia and hyperlipidaemia. Given that these drugs may create side effects, scholars must develop compounds that can lower lipid activity without producing adverse outcomes. The optimal candidate for this type of drug is natural products, such as traditional Chinese herbs.