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Hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects of Hawthorn extract in pre‐ and postmenopausal rats

Even though many previous studies have reported the antioxidative, hypolipidemic and cardiovascular protective effects of hawthorn, none of them were tested using ovariectomized model. The aim of the present study was to investigate lipid profiles and antioxidant properties of hawthorn extract in pre‐ and postmenopausal models of rat. Forty‐two female Sprague‐Dawley rats were randomly divided into six groups; non‐OVX control(Sham), Sham+100mg/kg b.w of hawthorn extract(SL) and Sham+200mg/kg b.w of hawthorn extract(SH), OVX‐control(OVX), OVX+100mg/kg b.w of hawthorn extract(OL) and OVX+200mg/kg b.w of hawthorn extract(OH). Treatment groups were administered with hawthorn extract every day for 8 weeks. Final body weight of OVX group were significantly higher than Sham group(p<0.05), however the increment was significantly lower in both OL and OH group when compared with OVX group(p<0.05). Compared to Sham group, uterine weight and 17β‐estradiol level were significantly decreased in all OVX groups(p>0.05). These results show that ovariectomy is induced properly as intended. Serum total cholesterol(TC) level was significantly elevated in OVX group compared with Sham group(p<0.05), whereas OL and OH groups showed significant decrease(p<0.05). Hepatic triglyceride(TG) level was significantly reduced in both SL and SH group compared with Sham group(p<0.05). In addition, OH group showed the lowest hepatic TG level and highest HDL‐cholesterol level compared with OVX group(p<0.05). The OL and OH groups had significantly lower non‐HDL cholesterol level than OVX group(p<0.05). Serum glutathione peroxidase(GPx) activity of OH group was significantly higher than OVX group(p<0.05). The mRNA expression of GPx was highest in OL group(p<0.05) and the mRNA expression of catalase(CAT) was higher in both SL and SH group than Sham group(p<0.05). These results suggest that hawthorn extract could have protective effects on pre‐ and postmenopausal rats by improving lipid profiles and increasing antioxidant enzyme activity.