Original Articles
Bahador Fadaei, Hassan Ahmadva
Abstract
Oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) has been strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The use of some compound in dietary food stuff include Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) leaves hydroalcoholic extract (ME) may lead to the inhibition of production of oxidized LDL and may decrease both the development and the progression of atherosclerosis. The present work investigated the effects of ME on LDL oxidation induced-CuSO4 quantitatively in vitro. Fasting blood samples from normal people after an overnight fasting were collected and then LDL was isolated. LDL was incubated without CuSO4 as control and incubated with CuSO4 and several concentration of ME (0.2, 2 and 20 μg/ml); and measured the formation of conjugated dienes, lag time and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Inhibition of this Cu-induced oxidation was studied in the presence of several concentration of ME (0.2, 2 and 20 μg/ml). It was demonstrated that ME is able to inhibit CuSO4-induced LDL oxidation and decrease the resistance of LDL against oxidation in vitro. Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) leaves extract showed an increase rate of 5%, 42% and 50% at concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 20 μg /ml, respectively. The inhibitory effects of the ME on LDL oxidation were dose-dependent at concentrations ranging from 0.2 to 20 μg /ml. This study showed that ME prevented the oxidation of LDL in vitro and it may suggest that they have the similar effect in vivo.