Effect of an indigenous herbal compound preparation 'Trikatu' on the lipid profiles of atherogenic diet and standard diet fed Rattus norvegicus.

Combating heart disease is one of the challenging problems of biomedical science today. Towards this goal an indigenous preparation 'Trikatu' (a herbal combination containing Piper longum (fruit), Piper nigrum (fruit) and Zingiber officinale (rhizome) dry powder) was fed to normal and cholesterol fed male Rattus norvegicus to ascertain its efficacy as a hypolipidaemic agent. Its effects on body weight, blood and tissue (aortic, cardiac and hepatic) lipids--total, free and esterified cholesterol, low density lipoprotein(LDL) and high density lipoprotein(HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids--and the atherogenic index were measured. It was found that 'Trikatu' by virtue of its ability to reduce triglycerides and LDL cholesterol and to increase HDL cholesterol can reduce the risk of hyperlipidaemia and atherosclerosis. Hence 'Trikatu' can be used as a potent hypolipidaemic agent and it can reduce the atherosclerosis associated with a high fat diet.