Bamboo Leaf Flavones and Tea Polyphenols Show a Lipid-lowering Effect in a Rat Model of Hyperlipidemia.

At present, most of the lipid-lowering drugs are western medicines, which have a lot of adverse reactions. Zhucha, an age-old Uyghur medicine, is made up of bamboo leaves and tea (green tea), which has good efficacy and lipid-lowering effect. The purpose of this study was to undertake a pharmacodynamic examination of the optimal proportions of bamboo leaf flavones and tea polyphenols required to achieve lipid lowering in rats. A hyperlipidemia rat model was used to examine the lipid lowering effects of bamboo leaf flavones and tea polyphenols. Wistar rats were divided into 13 groups including one hyperlipidemia model group and 2 positive drug groups as well as experimental groups (9 groups dosed with different proportions of bamboo leaf flavones and tea polyphenols, the 3 dosages of bamboo leaf flavones were 75 mg/kg/d, 50 mg/kg/d and 25 mg/kg/d respectively, the 3 dosages of tea polyphenol were 750 mg/kg/d, 500 mg/kg/d and 250 mg/kg/d). The weight, the levels of triglyceride (TG) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) were determined. A high dose of bamboo leaf flavones (75 mg/kg/d) combined with a medium dose of tea polyphenols (500 mg/kg/d) was deemed to be optimal for achieving a lipid-lowering effect, the weight had the smallest increase and the level of TG and HDL was similar to positive control. The bamboo leaf flavones and tea polyphenols were mixed according to a certain proportion (1:6.7), and the mixture achieved a lipid-lowering effect and might prove to be useful as a natural lipid-lowering agent. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.