In vivo Evaluation of Berberine-loaded Liposomes in the Exogenous Hyperlipidemia Animal Model

Abstract

Berberine (BBR) is an alkaloid presenting exogenous cholesterol lowering and anti-hyperlipidemia therapeutic effects in the literature. In this study, the exogenous lipid-lowering effects of oral BBR-loaded liposomes were investigated in rats compared with free BBR within four weeks. The BBR-loaded liposomes at the daily oral dose of 25 mg BBR/kg of body weight in rats reduced total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) by 22.34% (p>0.05), 43.93% (p<0.05), respectively. These values (TC and LDL-C) when rats were given BBR-loaded liposomes at the daily oral dose of 50 mg BBR/kg were 30.72% (p<0.05) and 42.77% (p<0.05) compared with those values of the untreated control group, respectively. Both doses of BBR-loaded liposomes have no signals in decreasing triglycerides. Keywords: Berberine, berberine-loaded liposomes, anti-hyperlipidemia, animal model.