Original Articles
Ali Kaddafi, Bouchra Meddah, O
Abstract
A high-fat diet has been reported to induce negative effect on rats’ bone mineral composition, microstructure and architecture. The aim of the present study is to assess the effect of aqueous extract of Pennisetum glaucum (AEPG) compared to simvastatin (SIM) on the lumbar vertebrae and Kidney for female rats fed on a cafeteria diet. Thirty seven-weeks old female rats (50-60 g) were weighted and divided in two groups: a control group (n=10), fed on a standard diet (SD) and an experimental group (n=20) receiving cafeteria diet (CD)-SD for 22 weeks to induce obesity. The experimental group was divided in three groups: CD group (n=6) continued receiving CD+SD, CD-AEPG group (n=7) received CD+SD+AEPG (250 mg/kg of body weight (b.w.)), CD-SIM group (n=7) received CD+SD+SIM (10 mg/kg b.w.). All lumbar vertebrae and kidneys were removed and weighted. The lumber (VL1-2) and kidney biopsies were taken for histopathological evaluation. The lumbar (VL3) is used for scanning electron microscopy and lumbar (VL4) used for analysis of mineral composition. We noted that the AEPG supplementation induced significant decrease of kidney weight compared to the control group. The lumbar weight has increased in CD, CD-AEPG and CD-SIM groups than control group (p=0.04, p=0.05, p=0.05 respectively). Our results reported that calcium and phosphor content decreased in CD group compared to the control. We noted a significant improvement of bone lesions under AEPG and SIM treatment. To conclude, AEPG and simvastatin administration decreased the bone alteration of the rats fed on a cafeteria diet. The AEPG possesses antiosteopenia proprieties.