Abstract:
Historically, medicinal preparations are derived from plants, whether in the simple form
of plant parts, or as crude extracts or mixtures, among others. Today a substantial number of
drugs are developed from plants which are active against a number of diseases (Haneefa et
al., 2010). This might be due to the fact that plants are a particularly good source of
compounds with antioxidant properties. Citrullus colocynthis, revealed considerable
concentrations of phenolics, flavonoids, ascorbic acid, tocopherols, carotene, saturated
(hexadecanoic and tricosanoic) and polyunsaturated ((9Z,12Z)-octadeca-9,12- dienoic and
(9Z,12Z,15Z)-octadeca-9,12,15-trienoic) fatty acids (Barros et al., 2011). The objective of
our work is to evaluate the effects of Enrichment in the PUFA of the standard regime and the
regime by the extract of Citrullus colocynthis on the live weight and on a few biochemical
parameters (total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL-C, LDL-C, AST and ALT) and markers of
inflammation; the CRP. In case of excess, hypercholesterolemia, considered as an
independent risk factor for atherosclerosis, can cause a lot of molecular alterations and
cellular. Mice Mus musculus, had received the standard regime or the regime enriched or not
by the extract of Citrullus colocynthis during 18 days. Our results show that the regime
hypercholestérolémiant induces hyperphagia and obesity in mice under
hypercholestérolémiant regime compared to control mice. After oral administration of the
high dose of cholesterol, the degradation of this last product an excess of cholesterol in the
blood plasma, which is in turn cause an increase very highly significant of the AST, ALT and
the CRP but not significant for the TG, HDL and LDL. However, mice treated by cholesterol
with extract of Citrullus colocynthis have shown a significant decrease of the AST, ALT,
cholesterol, TG, LDL and the CRP but not significant for the HDL. Therefore, the oil of
Citrullus colocynthis has beneficial effects on the redox status and presents a nutritional
interest. The results obtained in this study show that the extract of Citrullus colocynthis can
be considered as a natural source to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases
