| Summary: | 碩士 === 長榮大學 === 醫學研究所 === 100 === Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the major causes of death in Taiwan. Previous studies indicated that atherosclerosis might play a key role in the development of CVD. Thyme is one of the cooking spices commonly used in Taiwan. Thymol is major polyphemlic conrpond in the thyme, it has antioxidantive ability. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of thymol on oxidative stress, aorta ROS production and the gene expression of inflammatory markers in hyperlipidemia rabbits. Twenty-four New Zealand White (NZW) male rabbits were assigned randomly into four dietary groups and were scarified after eight weeks. The normal group was fed with regular rabbit chow and the HC group (hight cholesterol diet ; HC) was fed with a high fat and cholesterol diet with 10% lard and 1% cholesterol for 8 weeks. The thymol groups were fed with the same diet as the HC group plus 3 mg/kg/day of thymol (T3 group) or 6 mg/kg/day of thymol (T6 group) for 8 weeks. The serum levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol, Malondialdehyde (MDA), C-reactive protein (CRP), and intimal thickening was significantly increased in the HC group compared with the normal group, and decreased in the T3 and T6 groups compared with the HC group. The serum levels of HDL-cholesterol and total antioxidant status (TAS) were significantly increased in the T6 group compared with the HC group and T3 group. The mRNA expression of MMP-9 (Matrix Metalloproteinase 9), VCAM-1 (vascular cell adhesion protein 1), MCP-1 (ponocyte chemotactic protein-1), IL-6 (interleukin-6), IL-1β (interleukin-1), TNF-α (tumor necrosis factor-α) and TNF-β (tumor necrosis factor-β) was significantly increased in the HC group compared with the normal group, and decreased in the T3 and T6 group by real time PCR assay. In conclusion, our results indicated that thymol suppressed the progression of atherosclerosis by lowering serum lipid, reducing oxidative stress and inflammatory-related gene expression in hyperlipidemic rabbits.
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