Gerard Q. de Guzman, Mafel C. Ysrael, Aleth Therese L. Dacanay1 and Joseph Q. Dimaano
This study evaluates the hypolipidemic activities of lyophilized commercial Noni juice (NJ) in animal models of dyslipidemia and determine if this property is exhibited by the lyophilized fruit juice of locally harvested Morinda citrifolia Linn. (FJ). Triton and atherogenic diet-fed dyslipidemic rats were assessed by serum lipid profiles. With FJ treatment, the serum total cholesterol (TC) lowering effect between tritonized and diet-fed rats was comparable; with NJ treatment, however, a much significantly higher inhibition was achieved in tritonized rats than in diet-fed rats. In lowering serum triglycerides (TG), both FJ and NJ gave higher inhibitions in diet-fed rats than in tritonized rats. FJ, but not NJ, significantly increased serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in tritoonized rats. Hypolipidemia in both tritonized and atherogenic diet-fed rats was characterized by increased fecal excretion of cholesterol. As hypocholesterolemic agents, FJ is more potent than NJ with median effective dose of ED50 of 2.29 g/kg against 3.63 g/kg, respectively. In atherogenic diet-fed rats, a better control of serum lipid concentrations was achieved with FJ as it gave a lower atherogenic index of 2.97 as compared to NJ which gave a higher value of 3.59. These results showed that FJ is generally more potent than NJ in exhibiting hypolipidemic activities in the animal models used. More experimental models should be designed to test the efficacy of FJ in this therapeutic area.
