Research Article

Antiatherosclerotic and Cardioprotective Potential of Acacia senegal Seeds in Diet-Induced Atherosclerosis in Rabbits

Table 2

Effects of Acacia senegal seed extract (AS, 500 mg/kg/day, p.o.) or statin (0.25 mg/kg/day, p.o.) treatment for 45 days on the alteration in total wall area (TWA), lumen, intima, media, adventitia, and plaque, all in mm (images of Camera Lucida at 4 × 8 magnification; all in % of total area) in hypercholesterolemic (Chol) diet fed atherosclerotic male rabbits.

GroupsTWALumenIntimaPlaqueMediaAdventitia

Control 48.42 ± 1.9949.74 ± 1.44 9.62 ± 0.190.027.0 ± 0.8010.34 ± 0.02
Chol 67.16 ± 4.61a30.27 ± 2.52a10.06 ± 0.49d35.59 ± 1.01c14.23 ± 0.66c10.91 ± 0.13a
Chol + AS 47.79 ± 3.67d,e51.65 ± 3.66a,g8.23 ± 0.78d,e6.34 ± 0.72c,g24.06 ± 0.89d,g10.06 ± 0.67a,e
Chol + statin 49.69 ± 1.02d,e48.93 ± 2.44d,e9.98 ± 0.39d,h0.027.01 ± 1.84d,g10.39 ± 0.34d,e

Data are means ± S.E.M. ( = 8); ≤ 0.05; ≤ 0.01; ≤ 0.001; and nonsignificant as compared to the respective control values. ≤ 0.05; ≤ 0.001; and nonsignificant as compared to the respective values of the Chol diet fed group.