Hepatoprotective Effect of Ajwa Date Seed and Simvastatin in Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) Murine Model of Butter Fed Dyslipidemia

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a dangerous complication of hyperlipidemia which may lead to life threatening hepatitis and hepatic cirrhosis. Internationally, Prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is 20% in general population while 75% in the obese population of USA.1 Side effects of allopathic drugs have led the research towards natural products to find out their potential for treatment of NAFLD. Aims & Objectives: Aim of this study was evaluation of hepatoprotective effects of Ajwa date seed and Simvastatin against NAFLD. Place and duration of study: Study was conducted at animal house of UHS, Lahore and completed in 6 months. Material & Methods: 40 rats were procured and segregated into 5 groups with 8 rats in each group. Group 1 was healthy control and group 2 was disease control. Group 3, 4 and 5 were administered Simvastatin 10mg/kg/day, aqueous Ajwa date seed extract (ADSE) 8ml/kg/day and combination of Simvastatin 5mg/kg/day and aqueous ADSE 4ml/kg/day respectively. Total study duration was 36 days. First 15 days were for induction of hyperlipidemia while treatment was given for remaining 21 days. Serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and liver functions tests (Serum ALT, AST and ALP) were performed at day 0, 15 and 36 of study. Data was entered on SPSS 23.0 software and analyzed by one way ANOVA and post hoc tuckey’s tests. P-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Aqueous Ajwa date seed extract (ADSE), Simvastatin and their combination showed significant TC and TG lowering and hepatoprotective effects against NAFLD. However, individual drugs were more effective than the combination. Conclusion: Ajwa date seed can be used for the treatment of NAFLD. Key words: Ajwa date seed, Hyperlipidemia, Simvastatin