Comparative study of Lepidium sativum orally administered seeds, hydrogel and atorvastatin on obesity of rats fed on a high fat diet

Abstract

Background

Obesity has become a prevalent issue worldwide, leading to various complications such as hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and cardiovascular problems. Statins, as FDA approved anti-hyperlipidemic drugs, still pose some concerns upon their administration. Recently, researchers have looked for natural products as an alternative to manage hyperlipidemia and obesity.

Aim

This work aimed to study the hypolipidemic effect of Lepidium sativum garden cress (GC) from different preparations; orally administered seeds, and hydrogel, in comparison to atorvastatin.

Methods

GC hydrogel was prepared from the GC aqueous extract and pharmaceutically evaluated for its pH, spreadability, seeds content, homogeneity, rheology, and in vitro release. The rat’s body weight, blood glucose levels, total lipid profile, and liver biomarkers were evaluated on obese rats for one month. In addition, the histopathology study was also performed.

Results

GC hydrogel had acceptable pharmaceutical properties and showed a sustained release performance over 24 h. Oral and topical GC significantly reduced the lipid profiles, blood sugar and ALT, AST levels more than the negative control group and comparable to atorvastatin. It was found that oral GC showed a significant effect on the percentage decrease in the rat’s body weight than the applied hydrogel. Histopathology study revealed a better outcome in the histological structure of pancreas and liver compared with rats feed on high fat diet post-treatment for one month.

Conclusion

GC orally administered, or topically applied hydrogel could be a promising, safe alternative formulation to atorvastatin in managing hyperlipidemia and normalizing body weight of obese rats.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Lepidium sativum garden cress
• atorvastatin
• hydrogel
• lipid profiles
• liver biomarkers
• histopathology

Author contributions

Basmah N. Aldosari: conceptualization, methodology, software, funding acquisition, project administration, and writing – original draft. Hesham M. Tawfeek: supervision, conceptualization, methodology, writing – original draft, software, validation, writing – review and editing. Ahmed A. H. Abdellatif: conceptualization, methodology, writing – original draft, software, validation, writing – review and editing. Alanood Sunhat Almurshedi: conceptualization, methodology, writing – review and editing. Iman Mohammed Alfagih: methodology, funding acquisition, software, validation, and visualization. Bushra Tawfeeq AlQuadeib: methodology, software, validation, data curation, review, and editing. Asmaa Youssef A. Abbas: methodology, funding acquisition, investigation, data curation, writing – review and editing. Heba M. Mohammed: methodology, funding acquisition, investigation, software, and data curation. Yasser A. Hassan: software, validation, data curation, review, and editing. Nahla Sameh Tolba: investigation, methodology, data curation, writing – review and editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.