title: Hypocholesterolemic effects of Balangu (Lallemantia royleana) seeds in the rabbits fed on a cholesterol-containing diet.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Lallemantia royleana (Benth. in Wall.) Benth. (Lamiaceae) is a medicinal plant used in Iranian traditional and folklore medicine in the treatment of various nervous, hepatic, and renal diseases. In the present study, whole seeds of the herb were prepared and evaluated for hypolipidemic activities using an animal model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Animals were fed normal diets or diets supplemented with cholesterol (0.5%) for 12 weeks to evoke hypercholesterolemia. Moreover, hypercholesterolemic animals were treated with different doses of whole seeds of Balangu (0, 5, 10, and 20%) for 12 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that the serum total cholesterol and triglyceride decreased in all groups treated with Balangu seeds p<0.05. Changes in the distribution of cholesterol in low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were found. LDL-C and HDL-C decreased significantly in all of the groups treated with whole seeds of the herb with respect to hypercholesterolemic group p<0.05.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed that L. royleana seeds decreased the serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels in hypercholesterolemic animals but led to the increase of atherogenic index in all treated groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghannadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Centre, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Ahmad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Movahedian
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isfahan Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Centre, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jannesary
keywords: Cholesterol; Hypercholesterolemia; Iranian Traditional Medicine; Lallemantia royleana Lamiaceae