Experimental study of the antiatherogenesis effect of Chinese medicine angelica and its mechanisms

Abstract

This experiment was designed to study the antiatherogenesis action of angelica injection and its mechanisms on classic atherosclerotic rabbit model. Eighteen Japanese rabbits were divided randomly into three groups: a control group, a high‐lipid group and an angelica group; and common forage, high lipid forage and high lipid adding angelica injection were given to each group accordingly. At the end of the tenth week, blood samples were obtained through carotid artery intubation for evidence of serum lipids and hemorheology. Thoracic aorta were prepared for measurement of the plaque area. The results showed that (1) the plaque area in the high‐lipid group was larger than in the angelica group: ( 35.58\pm7.25 % vs 63.31\pm7.46 %); (2) serum lipids level in the high‐lipid group and angelica group were significantly higher than those in the control group ( p<0.01 ). Apart from triglyceride (TG), there was no difference of total cholesterol (Tch), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐ch), and low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐ch) between the high‐lipid group and the angelica group; (3) angelica increased whole blood viscosity, hematocrit and fibrinogen under hyperlipidemic conditions. We concluded that angelica can inhibit rabbit aorta atherogenesis through decreasing the serum triglyceride concentration and its effects on hemorheology.